XTSG
by SilentInquisition
Summary: This is a YYHInu xover challenge fic. HieiKag I think. See inside for better summary.
1. chapter 1

Hello All! This is an AU challenge story, of the Hiei/Kagome persuasion. AU means that it's likely that characters will not be in character for those of you who are obsessive about it, so please don't flame me because of it. I have now warned you. Don't like it, don't read it. Another warning, I'm notoriously slow with the updating.

Perimeters: A/U Kagome gets sent to a weird old boarding school when her mom and step dad decide to have their honeymoon in London. The entrance exam is abnormally strange and the school seems perfect but there's something that's just not quite right. Chaos is a certainty and love is sure to blossom in a school of hardly any adult supervision and students looking for a wild ride. YYH/IY x-over (Preferably Kag/kur or Hiei/Kag)

Disclaimer: Not mine. And if you sue me, all you'll get is a share of my student loan debt. Joy for us all.

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Chapter 1- Kagome's POV

Seriously, why did mom have to marry a man who could actually _afford_ to spend a year in England for their honeymoon? Don't get me wrong, I'm happy for her, but it only leaves me with two options: a year in boarding school or a year in England.

Souta and Kohaku chose England, something about soccer gods. I wouldn't know. I'm not a soccer freak. Sango and I chose boarding school. Thank god I have Sango or I would totally freak out. Sango and Kohaku are my and Souta's cousins. They've lived with us since their parents died five years ago.

Mom, Souta, and Kohaku left yesterday and Jin left the week before to make sure everything was ready for them. He's a great guy, but he worries too much. Sango and I leave tomorrow for XSTG, or to be more precise, Xanadu's School for the Talented and Gifted. We got the brochure in the mail and it's the only school we could both agree on. That's why we were so upset about the entrance exams. We both _had _to get into this school, and the exams were, well, not normal...

FLASHBACK

"Hello I'm Headmistress Genkai. I run this school along with Headmistress Kaede. This is a small school and, provided you get in, we will be your only teachers. Now, on to the exams, your first test will be--the drawing of lots. Now please form a single-file line and draw your envelope from the box. Do not open them until I say."

After this proclamation a looong line formed amidst the grumbles of the crowd. By the time it was almost our turn to draw an envelope the nervousness (and the bag of Gummi Bears I'd snuck past Sango) was starting to get to me.

"Sango, it's the penguins again! They're out to get us!"

"You got sugar past me again didn't you?" she said exasperatedly; then sighed, "Kagome, how many times do I have to tell you there are no penguins in Japan?"

"That's what they want you to think." I looked around surreptitiously then whispered, "I think the Headmistress is a penguin in disguise."

At this point the rather rude guy standing behind us felt the misguided urge to speak out of turn, "Oi wench, you've been in the sun too long."

"What did you just say to me!"

"I said you were crazy."

"No, not that, everyone knows that; did you just call me _wench_?"

"Yeah, whatcha gonna do about it?"

"First of all, my name is Kagome. KA-GO-ME. Got that? Second, if you call me wench again, I'll use my insanity to think of evil things to do to you."

"Don't you mean you'll use your imagination?"

"No, I meant my insanity. Muahaha-chokes"

During my rather unsuccessful rendition of my famous evil laugh, the guy was slowly edging away from me, wide eyed and a little pale. When I finally stopped choking he just eyed me warily and said, "Riiight."

Of course he was basically drowned out by the feminine screech of, "PERVERT!" and the loud, rather painful sounding, WHACK that followed shortly thereafter.

"Sango!" I said reproachfully, "No attacking innocent bystanders!"

"He was groping me!" she exclaimed indignantly

"That's what you said about the last one."

"That guy was thinking about it!" Sango muttered crossly in reply.

Just then the unconscious guy sprawled at Sango's feet came to; blinked a few times; noticed me, and then kneeled at my feet and took my hand, saying, "Excuse me fair lady, allow me to introduce us, this baka is Inuyasha and I am Miroku. Would you perhaps do me the honor of bearing my child?"

"Hmmm, let me think about that..." I tapped my chin with a finger for a second or two, giving the appearance of being deep in thought, then I suddenly brought my fist down on top of his head, knocking him unconscious and crushing about six bones in my hand in the process.

It's times like this that I wish I were a character in an anime and I could just pull a frying pan out of thin air. I tried carrying one around for a while but unfortunately, for the purpose I had in mind, the cast iron skillet was most effective, and for those of you who have never been fortunate enough to have the experience, those suckers are heavy. So it ended up as more of an around the house weapon, mainly used on bratty brothers and pesky cousins. Ohhhh yesss. Souta and Kohaku have faced the wrath of the cast iron skillet many a time. Bwahahaha. Ahem. Er. Yes.

Then I stiffened and my eye started twitching, as Miroku, who had apparently come around, placed his hand on my ass and asked, "So is that a yes?"

I swung around and slapped him hard across the face shouting, "That is a definite NO!"

Then as I stared at his twitching form lying prostrate on the ground, I calmed and decided to be generous, so I added, "But I will ask the penguins if they will bear your child. You deserve each other."

At this point Genkai interrupted, "AHEM," she said loudly to get everyone's attention, "Has everyone drawn their lot?"

Everyone nodded in response.

"Very well, you may open your envelopes. If your paper is red' follow me; if it is not, you are not suitable for this school and must leave immediately."

I closed my eyes, ripped the envelope open, then held out the piece of paper and asked Sango what color it was. Unfortunately, she wasn't the one who replied.

"It's red wench, just like the rest of ours."

"Oh no, yours is red too?"

"Yeah."

"It's the penguins Sango. The penguins!"

"Yes Kagome. I know," she said rubbing her hand against her forehead in exasperation; then she muttered, "I also know that it's going to be a long time before you get your hands on sugar again. We'd better get going or we'll be left behind."

We caught up with the group just as they entered a room filled with video games.

"Video games!" I exclaimed, clapping my hands happily

"These are no ordinary video games. They measure your awareness, strength, and potential for growth," Genkai informed us.

Sango, Miroku, and some guy with a long ponytail scored the highest on the Jenken (paper rock scissors) machine that was supposed to measure your awareness. Inuyasha, the guy with the ponytail and some pretty girl scored the highest on the punching machine that was supposed to measure your strength. What was really odd was the fact that this big beefy guy had a really low score, even I scored higher than him, in fact I scored higher than a lot of people, which is saying something, because I'm a weakling. I scored the highest on the karaoke machine that was supposed to test your potential for growth; a short red headed guy came in a close second. You know, for minute there, I could have sworn he had a tail. Strangely enough, a little albino girl came in at zero on everything. We eight were the only ones who got into the school.

End Flashback-Sango's POV

I sighed. There is so much to do before we leave tomorrow, and there Kagome is, staring off into space. If we would have started packing yesterday like I suggested then we wouldn't be in this mess.

"Kagome!" I said sharply

"Hmmm?" she asked absently

"Is the laundry finished?"

"One more load and we're done with clothes."

"All right, we have to leave by 9:00 tomorrow morning, so we really need to finish up soon."

"Besides the clothes, all we have left to do is gather the electronics and toiletries; then we do a quick check of the house to make sure we've got everything. So relax, it's no big deal."

"If you say so..."

NEXT MORNING-8:55 A.M.

"SANGO! Where's my hairbrush? I can't find it!"

"I don't know! What did you do with my toothbrush?"

"It's in the blue case."

"Kagome we _have_ to GO!"

"I _know_ that Sango!"

And that brings us to the present. After an hour of speeding we've reached our destination, and Kagome is trying to simultaneously calm me down, and make me release my white knuckled death grip on the door.

"You can stop hyperventilating now Sango, we're here on time."

"Not...why...hyper...ventilating...almost hit...tree...sign...kid...car...post... dog...policeman..."

"Yeah, but I didn't, did I, and that policeman didn't even give me a ticket," she stated smugly.

"Oh, it's easy for you to be so calm! We left my stomach somewhere back near Osaka, my heart is in my throat, and my nerves are stretched to the breaking point." I lifted a shaking hand and jabbed my index finger in the general direction of her face, "Never again, never ever again, will I let you drive."

"Aw c'mon Sango, how else am I going to pass my driver's test? The instructor hates me."

"Near death experiences will do that to you. Personally, after this, I don't think he's wrong to never let you loose on the road. You're scary."

She sighed; then said, "All right Sango, we better hurry or we'll be late for orientation."

ORIENTATION

"All right students, this is a relatively small school. However, we don't think that's any reason for new students to wander around the school alone. So, for the first week or so, you will have a student guide. Please come forward when I say your name.

Kagome Higurashi your guide will be Hiei Jagan.

Sango Taija your guide is Botan Kame

Miroku Houshi will have Yukina Jagan.

Kouga Nouta guide will be Ayame Kizu.

Inuyasha Taisho's guide will be Yusuke Yurimeshi

Kagura Kaze will have Kuwabara Kazuma as her guide

Kanna Kaze will have Sesshoumaru Taisho.

Shippo Minamoto will have Suichi Minamoto.

Now please proceed to the back of the room to get your schedules and dorm assignments."

After a short wait we got our schedules and room numbers.

"What's your room number Sango?"

"C25, you?"

"C25."

This news was received joyously and thus we started doing a happy dance to celebrate.

"I have C25 as well."

I stopped dancing "You! But how!"

For a split second there was a look of pure panic on Kagome's face and then her 'I couldn't possibly have done anything evil, just look I'm too innocent' mask appeared on her face

If I were in an anime there would have been flames a mile high behind me as I said, "What did you do Kagome!"

"Well I know you aren't very good with members of the opposite sex, so I thought it might be good for you to be in a co-ed dorm and get used to being around guys that aren't related to you."

"And it never occurred to you we might get stuck with the pervert!"

"Wellll... No, not really."

"Idiot! C'mon we better go see Mistress Genkai about getting new rooms."

"Don't even bother. The school has a policy about not letting students change rooms until they've lived together for at least two months," said the guy with slicked back hair that was standing beside us.

"Who are you?" I inquired.

"I'm Yusuke. I heard you guys yelling C25 and figured I'd better come see who my new room mates were."

"You aren't a pervert too, are you?" Kagome came right out and asked.

"Err...not really. There's this one girl back home I like to bug but..."

"Okay! Never mind. Just wanted to make sure you weren't another Miroku."

"You called Miladies," Miroku said as he came up behind me and Kagome again.

SLAP! "PERVERT!" we said in unison.

Kagome sighed, "I'm sorry Sango. Since I got us into this you get first choice of weapons. Do you want the frying pan or the baseball bat?"

"I think I'll just keep Hiraikotsu handy."

"You mean I get two weapons?" Kagome asked starry eyed.

"Sure do, but try not to go overboard like you did with that Hojo guy."

"I'm still convinced he was in league with the penguins. He just wouldn't leave me alone..."

"C'mon Kagome, let's get our stuff out of the car. Yusuke, would you come with us and show us where the dorm room is?"

"It's kinda supposed to be your student guide's job, but Boton's busy, Hiei is, well, Hiei, and it looks like Inuyasha's going to be tied up arguing with Sesshoumaru for a while, so sure, why not?" Then he whispered to me, "So what's her deal with the penguins."

"Loooong story, but here's a bit of friendly advice that will improve all of our lives, keep her as far away from sugar as possible," I said as we were walking to the car.

"Okay..."

"Look, here's our car."

"Sango, we should have brought Miroku along and made him be our pack mule."

"Kagome, he's still unconscious."

"Oh. Right. I forgot."

"Ditz." Yusuke said tauntingly

"What did you just say!"

"Ditz."

"Grrr...what is it with the guys at this school.. Of the first three I meet, one's a pervert and the other two call me names," Kagome sniffled, then apparently decided to do the full on crying thing, because this ungodly sound came from her mouth, "WAAAHHH"

I sat back and watched as Kagome and Yusuke fought. The people at this school will probably never really understand us. There's much more to us than this stupid act we put on. Our pasts have shaped us beyond these facades we put on everyday...

Owari.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Despite the fact that I have no artistic talent, it's all mine. Yeah. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

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Chapter 2

NEXT DAY-KAGOME'S POV

Ahh, it's so good to be unpacked. Sango and I should go try to find our classes, but that would mean venturing forth into the common room to get to the door, which means we could run into Miroku, which Sango is vehemently against; hence our current argument.

"Sango, I really need to do this, your guide might be nice, but apparently mine is not so much on the helpfulness meter..."

"Then go by yourself and risk gropage." Sango said petulantly.

"You're going to have to come out sometime Sango." I said, trying to reason with her.

"Better later than sooner." She huffed.

"How about if we arm ourselves until we get to the door? What sane man would dare try to grope us if we have weapons?"

"No."

"Please."

"No"

"PLEASE."

"No."

"PLEEAAASE." Then I whipped out the famous puppy dog eyes, which no one, especially Sango, could resist.

"All right, all right," She said, although she muttered to herself, "Damn puppy dog eyes."

I grabbed the bat and she grabbed Hiraikotsu and we threw open the door, poised to strike... Yusuke. I must say he was quite scared, ran away muttering something about living with crazy people. Psshaw. He says that like it's a bad thing.

Anyway, our schedules are really unusual. Yes, we have our normal hour long classes, like Japanese and Math, but then we had a couple of classes that lasted two hours once a week. They were weird classes too. Stuff like: Youkai Studies, Miko Training, History of Makai, Elementary healing, and you were required to take at least one, preferably more, of the following: Judo, Archery, Kendo. Strange, huh?

I know what you're thinking. 'How on earth are two teachers going teach all these classes?' Well, they do it with the help of the senior students. See each of our morning classes (the two hour long ones are in the morning) has a senior that teaches it, while Kaede and Genkai wander around observing the seniors. Genkai teaches English and Math, while Kaede teaches Japanese and History, and they split the science classes between them.

Our day starts at 10:00am with our two hour long class, then we have lunch, then we have our one hour classes off and on all day long. Dinner is whenever you can fit it in between the hours of 5:00 and 8:00 and the school day is over by 9:00. It looks like we'll have plenty of time to do homework between classes since there's usually about an hour between every other class. This schedule is Monday through Friday, and we have one two hour class on Saturday then the rest of the weekend is ours to do with as we see fit.

Many of the classes we're taking are going to be held in the huge dojo-like room between the cafeteria and the student lounge. The second floor has five class rooms; each one designated a subject like Japanese or history. Then you have the outdoor training court, and the pool and exercise facilities in the basement. Then there are the three dorm buildings for students, one all girl, on all boy, and one coed. Then the Headmistress' quarters and offices were in another small building. The school building was in the front with the training area slightly behind and to the left side, then across from the training area were the headmistress' quarters and directly behind the school were the three dorm rooms in a horizontal line. From above the buildings looked like a hollow square. In the middle of the square was this glorious little park that had benches and trees and flower and a pond and garden. I could see right away that the square was going to be one of my favorite places.

Touring the whole complex took about 45 minutes and we could see that there weren't many students here. Seventy at the most, I would say I can't wait to meet them all, but that would be a lie. I have a feeling that this year I'm going to have a small group of friends. Ah well, best head back to the dorm and get a good night's sleep for classes tomorrow.

Uh oh, looks like Miroku got back while we were gone and Sango let down her guard when she opened the door. Of course I'm going purely by the sound of someone being beaten into a pulp here. I'm too scared to open the door. Who knows what Sango might do to me?

I cautiously opened the door. Hmm, judging from the unconscious Miroku and the loud music I'd say Sango is sulking. I go to our room and plop down on the bed, knowing Sango well enough to leave her alone so she can calm down.

NEXT DAY

'So far so good, well except for the fact that Sango woke me up three hours early so we could avoid Miroku, only to find him already awake and meditating in the common room. Did I mention he was shirtless and clad only in boxers? Oh, and that he has a nice body. I practically had to wipe Sango's drool for her. I'm definitely going to have to do some matchmaking. The fact that he lives with us only makes it that much easier. Muahahachokes. I hate it when that happens. It's so damn hard to be evil these days. Anyway, like I said so far so good, but it's only,' I check my watch, '9:58! FUCK I'm going to be late!'

Since I figured it wouldn't be good to start off the school year as 'the tardy student' I ran down the stairs, out of the dorm building, through the park, into the main building, and then I dived into the dojo. Then I noticed all the people sitting in neat little rows staring at me like I was some sort of freak.

"Eh heh heh, ermm sorry?" I said scratching my head awkwardly in face of their scrutiny.

The teacher smiled, "Don't worry about it. You're only two minutes late." And then she continued in her recitation of her rules.

Lucky for me that Miroku's guide Yukina is teaching elementary healing. She is really nice. But then again, I should have already known that. After all, Miroku came back from his tour without any bruises. She has to be a saint. So far Yukina is just going over general information like the syllabus and rules. Don't you just love rules?

Anyway, turns out that the huge garden I just love is tended to by the elementary healing class and is where we'll be spending most of our time. We've already got an assignment. We have to pick one of the herbs in the garden and identify its medicinal properties. That's not going to be hard at all. Ji-chan was really into traditional remedies and history before he died, so I'm practically a walking encyclopedia of traditional lore. Hmmmm, it's lunchtime in about a minute. I hope Sango and I don't have to sit with the pervert. I can only imagine what Sango would do to me.

LUNCH

OH MY GOD! The food here is actually recognizable and it smells so gooood. Let's just hope that the taste is as good as the smell. Hmm. Where to sit? I pondered; then I noticed an empty table in the far corner. Perfect, now I just have to wait for Sango to show up. As I was sitting down I noticed a quite remarkable looking guy striding angrily toward me. Such pretty silvery hair...too bad he doesn't look at all happy.

"You girl, what are you doing at our table?" he inquired angrily

Hmm he looks familiar, now where have I seen him before...Oh! He looks like Inuyasha and he was the albino girl's guide.

"Well!"

"Ermm...is sitting an acceptable answer?

"NO!"

"How about waiting for someone to take the stick out of your ass!" and then I dumped my apple sauce on his head. And three seconds later I realized what I'd done.

"Nuuuuuu, my poor food," I whined my lip quivering.

"Cease your whimpering!" he demanded

"But...my foood..."

He sighed then said, "Here girl, take mine and stop your whining."

I grinned happily, "APPLESAUCE!" I exclaimed, then I hugged it rather awkwardly...Crap! Sango! I thrust the empty dish of applesauce into his hand. "Try to look like you dumped this on yourself!"

He looked at me like I was crazy; then said firmly, "No."

"PLEAASE" I pleaded, whipping out the puppy dog eyes once more.

"Hah. Don't even try that on me. I invented puppy dog eyes," he said disdainfully.

"Damn! Errr, oh. Hi Sango," I smiled innocently, "How's it going?"

Sango sighed, "Kagome, how many times do I have to tell you not to throw food...OH GOD! I sound like my mom! Look what you've done Kagome!"

"ME! What did I do! You could have just let me have fun like a regular abnormal person but noooo, you have to be all mature."

Sesshoumaru coughed to get our attention then said, "As entertaining as this is, you have to leave now. This is my table."

"I don't see your name on it." I replied. He just pointed to a spot on the bench. There it was 'Sesshoumaru'. "Well damn." I got out my pen, crossed off his name and wrote down my own, then said, "Problem solved. Since this is my table now, I say either sit or leave, but do not order me around."

Then he growled at me. I mean it, he literally growled. I didn't think that human vocal cords could do that. Then some red haired guy showed up and it looked like he was trying to calm Sesshoumaru down, because he was saying something about Sesshoumaru controlling his instincts.

He looks familiar, what's his name...something like Karma or Kunyo, maybe Kurama...yeah I think that's it, Kurama. Just then Botan came up to Kurama and asked him what was going on. He replied that we usurped Sesshoumaru's territory and now Sesshoumaru was upset. Botan looked at Sango and me. She saw Sango looking worried and me eating my applesauce, apparently oblivious. How wrong she was. I looked up, "You know I haven't heard of many humans having instincts that are enraged by invasions of territory, but there's a simple solution to this. Just have him invite me to sit here." Everybody looked amazed and thoughtful, except for Sango, of course. She's used to my insightfulness, shrugs, I don't know why everyone thinks I'm a ditz.

"That could work. Sesshoumaru, invite her." Kurama demanded

"Hmmph, fine. This Sesshoumaru invites you to dine in his presence," he said in a grudging manner, then he mumbled "But only because you won't leave and the school frowns upon the maiming of new students." pouts

"Geez, don't get your panties in a twist." I replied.

"She dares mention this Sesshoumaru's undergarments! For that she must die!" and then he lunged at me.

"EEEP!" I squeaked, and then I dove behind the nearest person, which happened to be Kagura.

Sesshoumaru then crashed into Kagura. Kagura got angry and dumped more food on Sesshoumaru, cursed a lot (Mostly comments about his upbringing and dogs, I didn't really understand it) and stormed away. Sesshoumaru glared at me and then he too stormed away.

Kurama started laughing hysterically. "Okay, okay. I know he's my friend, but that was great! I've never seen anyone get to him the way you just did."

I shrugged, "What can I say? I've got a gift."

Sango groaned, "More like a curse. Who ends up pulling your arse out of the fire? Your friends do. Who's the only friend you've got here? Me. Oh god, just kill me now and put me out of my misery."

"Aww, Sango, I'm not that bad...hey...when did all these people get here?" I said while looking around. I saw an ugly orange haired guy holding Yukina's hand, Botan was practically sitting on Kurama's lap, Shippo and Kanna were sitting together whispering, Kouga and Ayame were making out in the corner, which I found very disturbing by the way, Kikyo was flirting with Inuyasha who was FEHing madly and trying not to blush. Ahhh, the matchmaking opportunities Muahahachokes sigh. I give up. I looked over at my current matchmaking interests, Sango and Miroku, and saw Miroku's hand creeping towards Sango's butt...uh oh WHACK oooo that hurt. I can tell by the broken lunch tray Sango was holding. Inuyasha looked up.

"Hey wench, Kurama here has just been regaling us with the story of what you did to my idiot brother. I give you an A for effort and a C for originality. Mediocre over all, but with a little practice you could have potential."

I grinned wickedly. "Why thanks for the advice Inuyasha, and for volunteering to be my test subject. I truly appreciate the help."

"WHAT! I never agreed to be a test subject. Your brain's broken."

I shrugged "I know what I heard, but I know how it must pain you to admit to such a generous and caring gesture, so we'll pretend you never said it."

"But, but..."

The whole table laughed, and then the bell rang, cutting off any further protest from Inuyasha.

I must admit I wasn't too enthusiastic about my next class. Math the horror of all high school students, well at least the ones with any sense at all. I can't believe that some people actually enjoy this class. I can't believe that Sango's one of them. If she wasn't family I might have to consider her a traitor and make her walk the plank. Well, assuming I, ya know, had a plank. Anyway, back to Algebra 2. Ugh. Just shoot me now. I don't know how I'm going to make it through the year. This is the first day so it hasn't been too bad. As to who's in my class, well Sango's actually good at math, like I mentioned earlier, so she's in Trig. Kagura's older than us so she's in Trig too, and Shippo and Kanna are younger so they're in Algebra 1. According to Miroku's big mouth Inuyasha's worse than I am at math, and is still in Geometry. Kouga and Miroku are both in class with me though.

I overheard Kouga calling Ayame 'his woman'. Personally, I would feel sorry for her, but I'm stuck rooming with Mr. 'Grope you if you come within five feet of me'. Speaking of Miroku, guess who I got stuck sitting by? That's right and by the time class was over my butt was practically numb and Miroku had some pretty impressive bumps and bruises, mainly from the big ol' math textbook I kept hitting him with, but Boton, who was sitting on his other side, got some pretty good hits in too. She was too nice to use the textbook though. Oh well, she'll learn, since by some ungodly intervention we have these seats for the rest of the term.

English and Japanese, my next two classes were relatively uneventful. By now Kaede and Genkai had learned of Miroku's 'tendencies' and seated him in the middle of a group of guys. Shippo, Kagura, and Kanna weren't in our classes here either, age difference again. Like I said, pretty uneventful, just going over the rules and stuff. Well Genkai did seat me next to Inuyasha, but he was still sulking about lunch. Baby.

My next class is AP biology, and none of the other new people are in it. At least from what I've heard. So basically here I am, hoping to find someone I've at least seen before in this class.

Uh oh, a very familiar head of silver hair is headed this way. I bit my lip and looked for a place to hide, 'let's see...potted plant, no...desk, no...spiky haired guy, could work.' Then I casually walked behind the guy while Sesshoumaru stalked nearer.

"All right, where is she! I can smell her stink."

Without thinking I popped my head out from behind the guy, and said indignantly, "I do not smell bad!" Then my eyes went wide as I realized what I'd done, I clapped my hand over my mouth and retracted my head back behind spiky guy. 'Stupid Kagome stupid!' I thought. Then Sesshoumaru shoved the spiky haired boy aside.

"Eh heh heh...Hi Sesshoumaru." I said nervously.

"Sesshoumaru. You how dare you touch me?" spiky haired boy growled.

"It was your own fault Hiei. You shouldn't have been hiding her from me."

"Me! Hide a ningen! She was standing behind me is all."

"Actually I was hiding from Sesshoumaru..." I started to say, but then I noticed both guys glaring at me. "EEP!" I squeaked; then I noticed Kurama across the room and shouted, "Kurama! Save me!"

Kurama looked exasperated, "Geez, that Sango girl wasn't kidding."

"Errm, no. The good news is I'm usually not this bad, but you have to save me. They're going to maim me and completely disregard school policy."

"Guys..."

"This Sesshoumaru is leaving."

"Hn."

Both guys glared at me and then stalked off to opposite ends of the room. I decided it would be safest to sit in the middle.

Kaede walked in, "Sorry I'm late...why is it so quiet in here?"

"No reason," I replied. "I think they're a little uncomfortable around me."

"All right..." Kaede said skeptically.

Ughh and more of the ever present rule reciting began...my eyelids started to droop and then, all of a sudden the bell rang. Hmm. Better not get in the habit of doing that. This class is too small for me to be able to get away with it.

A lot of people are in advanced history. Ji-chan's the reason I'm in it. Sango comes from a long line of Taija-yas, so she gets lots of history lessons. Miroku's from a long line of, can you believe it? Monks. I'm not really sure how everyone else made it into advanced, but the number of people here is truly amazing. We have to use the dojo as the class room. What really amazes me is Inuyasha's in this class. Ah well. Last class of the day and I'm exhausted. I'm hitting the sack as soon as Sango and I finish homework.

Owari


	3. Chapter 3

Next Day  
  
I pace outside the door, glancing at my watch every few seconds.  
  
pace...pace...glance. pace...pace...glance. pace..  
  
"Screw this" I said to myself then commenced pounding on the door shouting,  
  
"Yusuke get your ass out of the bathroom NOW!!! I'm gonna be late. Again!"  
  
"Keep your pants on. I'll be out in a few minutes," he yelled back to me.  
  
"That's what you said ten minutes ago, and ten minutes before that, and ten minutes before that! You were in there when I woke up for Kami's sake."  
  
"Yeah, yeah..." Then the door opened and Yusuke strolled out looking fresh as a daisy and jumped in fright when he saw me.  
  
I glared. "It's about time...and don't touch my doughnut if you want to live to see Keiko again."  
  
He looked slightly frightened, "How do you know about Keiko??" he asked nervously.  
  
"I have my ways...." I tried, going for the mysterious answer, but Yusuke just looked at me.  
  
"All right, all right, so she called the other day. Jeez. We got to talking and I gained a lot of valuable information. Ah the blackmail opportunities," I grinned evilly, "So don't cross me or everyone will find out about Puu."  
  
Yusuke paled, but I didn't have time to enjoy it. I only had time to freak out completely, "Ten minutes! I have ten minutes to get ready and get to class. Yusuke look what you've done!" I yelled as I dashed into the bathroom.  
  
I heard Yusuke's "ME!?!" faintly through the bathroom door before I jumped into the shower. I screeched and jumped out again. "YUSUKE!!! You used all the hot water. I'm going to kill you!!"  
  
Outside the bathroom Yusuke jumped in surprise, dropped my half-eaten doughnut on the floor, and then high tailed it out of there.  
  
Meanwhile I looked at the shower, grimaced, jumped in, and took the fastest shower known to man. By the time I got out my teeth were chattering and I was vowing to exact my evil revenge. I threw on some clothes and raced out the door and down the stairs then out another door and zoomed into the commons, up the stairs, down another hall and skidded into the last room on the right, "Am pant I pant latepant?"  
  
Kurama grinned. "Almost."  
  
I looked around. Hmmm apparently all first year students are required to take History of Makai. We eight newcomers were the only ones taking the class. I was seated between Kagura and Kanna. I like Kagura well enough, but Kanna....well she kind of freaks me out. She's got the weirdest vibe about her. Inuyasha sat behind me. But thankfully he didn't say a word. I actually think he slept through the class. I grinned evilly. I can guarantee he'll have plenty to say to me after lunch. Sango and Miroku were seated beside each other. It was quite entertaining. Yes, I know it's wrong to find enjoyment in the suffering of my best friend, but it's so damn funny! Actually the class itself is pretty interesting. Although why they were wasting our time making us learn the history of a theoretical world, I have no idea. Muahaha...lunch is in two minutes. This school's food is really good but, damn, if good food's wrong I don't want to be right. Also, I get to see my prank on Inuyasha go into effect.  
  
Bell rings, goes down to lunch  
  
I was the first one there. I glanced at the pink care bear boxers I had hung in the middle of the room earlier under the guise of a 'bathroom break.' Inuyasha's going to regret saying my pranks were mediocre. I resisted the urge to look surreptitiously around. It would only make me look more suspicious and there's no way anyone could connect me to the prank anyway. So I just headed towards my table to wait. Inuyasha came in and looked at the boxers weirdly, then he just shrugged it off! How can this be! My plan was perfect. He should have been writhing with embarrassment now! He walked up to me, and asked, "What are Sesshoumaru's boxers doing hanging in the middle of the room?"  
  
"Sesshoumaru's!! But they were in your room!" I exclaimed  
  
"How'd you get in my room?"  
  
"err.."  
  
At that moment Sesshoumaru walked in, saw the boxers and went pale.  
  
I sighed and muttered, "I don't know how I get myself into these things," and then I stepped forward and shouted, "Inuyasha!! How DARE you hang my boxers in the middle of the room!" thus attracting attention to myself. Then I walked over and snatched them down, "You should be ashamed of yourself. Stealing a girl's pajamas to try and embarrass her." I looked at the rest of the room and said, "That's right I sleep in boxers. It makes me feel manly." That statement got me several strange looks from the crowd as I stalked back to the table.  
  
"I'm sooo sorry Sesshoumaru. I thought they were Inuyasha's" I said glaring at said person, "Why don't you have any embarrassing underwear and why were Sesshy's boxers in your room?" I asked Inuyasha, quite put out by my error.  
  
"Mom must have put them in my basket by mistake, and unlike Sesshoumaru, I'm not whipped by our little sister Rin, so I can leave the embarrassing boxers she gives us at home with out spending the whole year feeling guilty about hurting her feelings, and this brings us back to how you got in my room..."  
  
"Your little toady roommate, err...Jaken, I think it was, he doesn't get much attention from girls does he?"  
  
"You flirted with my roommate!?!"  
  
I shrugged, "Sure."  
  
The whole time this was going on Sesshoumaru was staring at me.  
  
"What is it Sesshoumaru?"  
  
"You, girl, you embarrassed yourself on my account, in front of the entire student body. Why?"  
  
"Well it was kind of my fault, besides I wasn't really embarrassed. I don't care what other people think and I'm used to making a spectacle of myself."  
  
Sesshoumaru looked at me for a minute and then sat down beside me.  
  
"Aww Sesshy you do care!" I said giving him a hug. He stiffened, then relaxed and commanded, "Release me girl."  
  
So what could I do? I released him. "Sesshy, I realize that sitting next to me was a big step for you and I shouldn't push you but, if sometime you could call me by my name, which happens to be Kagome, by the way, that would be great."  
  
Inuyasha spit out his ramen.  
  
"He's letting you call him Sesshy!!! But the only person he lets call him anything but Sesshoumaru is Rin. I must admit that your name for him is way less embarrassing than hers though.  
  
"What does Rin cal..." I broke off that line of questioning when Sesshoumaru growled, "Oops, sorry Sesshy, I didn't mean to snoop in your business."  
  
"That's not why he's growling." Inuyasha told me.  
  
"Then why?"  
  
"Take a look at Miroku."  
  
"He's on the floor unconscious again. He must have groped Kagura."  
  
"Exactly."  
  
"What? Sesshy likes her?"  
  
"Yes"  
  
"Oh, oh I can help, let me help. It's the least I can do after yesterday's incident."  
  
"Girl I can do this on my own."  
  
"I know. I just meant I could help you get into contact with her."  
  
"How? After yesterday she finds me...distasteful."  
  
"By asking her to sit with us," and with that statement I jumped up and raced over to Kagura who was currently scanning tables for a place to sit.  
  
"Hey, Kagura. You wanna sit with us?  
  
"Is the dog there?"  
  
"Who? Oh, you mean Sesshoumaru. Yeah he's there, I'm so sorry about yesterday. It was totally my fault, but you left before I could explain...Sesshy's really a great guy once you get him to loosen up and he's hot too. C'mon give him another chance.  
  
"I don't know...looks aren't everything."  
  
"I totally agree, which is why you should come and sit with us and get to know him better. You can't judge him based on that one experience, especially since I already admitted it was mostly my fault. Oh, and you'll have to give him some time, he's a little stiff at first. It's his 'I'm lord of everything' routine.  
  
"Really? You seem to know a lot about him. How long have you known him?"  
  
"Since around this time yesterday."  
  
Kagura anime falls, but I manage to grab her lunch tray before she  
goes down.  
  
"Geez, Kagura, you should be more careful. You were almost lunch  
less."  
  
In the meantime, everyone had arrived at the table.  
  
"Guys this is Kagura, Kagura this is the guys. You already know Sesshoumaru, that's his brother Inuyasha. This is Sango, my cousin. Shippo is right over there next to Kanna..."  
  
"Hello Kanna."  
  
"Hey Sis."  
  
"Okay you're related, that's great, moving on. That's Boton, she's Kurama's girlfriend. There's Yukina and she's with Kuwabara. Which brings us to Yusuke, who's pining for his girlfriend at home..."  
  
"I am not pining. I'm doing just fine without Keiko."  
  
"Yeah, sure you are, she'll be glad to hear it," and with that statement I left Yusuke sputtering threats towards me.  
  
The couple in the corner with the disturbing propensity for PDA's is Kouga and Ayame. This is Kikyo and, hey, where's...slap ...Miroku, otherwise known as the pervert. Avoid sitting by him."  
  
"We're acquainted."  
  
"Ah, yes, I saw. Besides I doubt there are many girls in this school who aren't 'acquainted' with him. Now, sit, sit," I said ushering her over to my previous spot by Sesshoumaru. "Now move aside Inuyasha," I said while pushing Inuyasha off his seat on Sesshoumaru's other side.  
  
"Oy, wench. You made me spill my ramen!"  
  
"Awww, poor baby."  
  
"Says the girl who was crying over the applesauce she dumped on my head."  
  
"Sesshy, you teased me! What progress, now if only I could get you to call me by my name...HEY! Wait a minute that was entirely different!"  
  
"Kagome," Sango said patiently, "It's exactly the same."  
  
"Yeah," I nodded sadly "It is."  
  
Everyone anime falls, while I look on confused, "What???"  
  
bell rings  
  
Well, today in math we had a break through. Oh don't worry. I didn't actually understand something, if that's what you're thinking. No, Boton hit Miroku with her textbook. Of course it was pure reflex, and she apologized profusely over Miroku's unconscious body, but when he groped her again as she was apologizing, she whacked him again and was unrepentant. Anyway, class was boring. Who wants or needs to know vertex form of quadratic equations? Mathematicians don't count. They're all nuts. The angry little guy passed me in the hall today. I don't know what came over me but I just couldn't help tripping him. He glared at me and left. I wouldn't be surprised to find a snake in my bed tonight. And not the rubber kind either, it's much more likely to be the poisonous kind. I don't know what possesses me to bait the guy. I even made up with Sesshoumaru for crying out loud. Maybe he's the leader of the penguins and I sense his evil plotting. Yeah, that's it. He's been sent to ensure my mission of ridding the world of penguins is a failure...Muahahaha. Anyway, grins evilly back to my plotting...just because today's prank on Inuyasha didn't work doesn't mean I'm going to give up, and now I'm friends with his brother, sort of. I wonder if Inuyasha's afraid of anything...  
  
Urg. College Bio has been reduced from mildly painful to downright torture. My lab partner is Hiei, otherwise known as the angry little guy...I don't know why I keep calling him little...he's an inch or two taller than me. I guess it's because he's so much smaller than all the other guys I know. But back to the topic at hand...the little jerk almost sliced my hand open with the scalpel we were using to dissect our trout. I swear he did it on purpose too, and with the formaldehyde and everything the cut could have gone gangrenous and I would have had to cut it off, and then were would I be!?! Without a hand that's where. Okay, okay, so maybe I'm over dramatizing it just a little. looks sheepish I actually came closer to slicing my hand open than he did. Sharp objects and I don't get along, and neither do me and hot objects... and, well, the list goes on. I'm just a tish clumsy. On my fifteenth birthday I almost fell into an old well trying to get our cat, Buyo...poor Buyo, he didn't last for a week after gramps passed. But back to Bio...besides his attitude and obvious wish of my death, Hiei is actually an ideal lab partner. He isn't too happy, or chatty, or ditzy, and he doesn't care too much and he doesn't care too little. He's certainly intelligent enough, but he's a little...distracting...I found myself staring at him a couple of times, and noticing little things like the way his eyes went all hard and disgusted when he heard a girly squeal from one of the people in the room (sometimes they didn't come from the girls rolls eyes). I found it...sexy...URG! BAD Kagome BAD! Don't think things like that about your enemy. While you're drooling over his great eyes...and strong hands...and...drools  
  
I shake my head, 'Snap out of it girl. While you're drooling he could be plotting!' I latch firmly onto denial 'What was I thinking!?! Stupid aberrant thoughts. Must be all the formaldehyde fumes. Like I could ever find Hiei attractive. Of course not. But I do think I've found another test subject.' I grin, 'In fact...Miroku's Inuyasha's best friend, and Sesshoumaru's his brother so they probably know all there is to know about him, and Kurama and Sesshoumaru probably know more about Hiei than anybody else here...yes, yes, they will be much help. Not that they'll know it.' gets an evil look face  
  
"Huh!!!" I glance around wildly and see Hiei standing here looking smug. He's gotta be the one who knocked my hand out from under my chin! Ohhh is he gonna get it....  
  
"What was that about!!?"  
  
"Girl. You were scaring the rest of the student body."  
  
I looked around. He was right. Everybody but he, Sesshy, and Kurama had edged away until they were on the other side of the room.  
  
"Oh, come on! I can't be that scary!"  
  
"If you'd seen the look on your face..." Kurama said with a shudder, "What were you thinking about anyway?"  
  
I grinned evilly, "Revenge"  
  
Sesshy looked suspicious, "Revenge on whom?"  
  
"Why, Inuyasha, of course."  
  
"Probably that's not a good idea."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"Because Inuyasha will get revenge right back."  
  
"You think I'd let that amateur get the best of me!" I sniffled.  
  
"No, no, of course not Kagome..." he said consolingly while awkwardly patting my head.  
  
"Sesshy! You do care!" I exclaimed throwing my arms around him.  
  
Hiei bursts out laughing. "SESSHY!" HAHAHA "You're going soft!"  
  
I scowled, let go of Sesshoumaru, and stalked over to Hiei  
  
"Kagome..." Sesshoumaru said warningly.  
  
"Hmph. Fine Sesshy. I won't hurt him. But this is war. Nobody insults my friends and gets away with it."  
  
"Kagome I can take care of it myself."  
  
"That doesn't change anything, unless you think it's an insult to be defended by a girl. Then I'll back off, a little."  
  
"I do not find it insulting, but I do not wish for you to become involved."  
  
"Very well, I will respect your wishes for now, but don't always expect me to do what you say."  
  
I look up and find Hiei looking at me."  
  
WHAT!?!"  
  
"Hn."  
  
"Ass."  
  
"Hn."  
  
I rolls eyes at him and ignored Hiei for the rest of the class.  
  
Hiei's POV  
  
I've decided that I respect this ningen girl...Kagome. I've been watching her all day, hoping to see an opportunity for revenge. Through the window in the commons I saw her hang up the boxers, then realize her mistake, and take the embarrassment she meant for someone else, to save someone who wasn't even her friend at that point. In a single 24 hour period, she managed to make an enemy of Sesshoumaru, and then turn him into a friend, no small feat. In Bio today she displayed amazing loyalty to try and fight me because I insulted her friend of only a few hours, and she's not as ditzy as she seems. She puts up a good act but I can tell there's something more there. There are moments when she thinks no one is watching and she lets her guard down, and I can see sadness...however, she's still just a ningen, so she will never know the respect I hold for her.  
  
"Yeah, but she's a hot ningen."  
  
"Who are you?"  
  
"You."  
  
Shut up."  
  
"You can't tell yourself to shut up."  
  
"She's really not that hot."  
  
"She is too...c'mon admit it."  
  
"Hn."  
  
"Close enough."  
  
Kagome's POV-outside, under a tree  
  
"I can't believe that guy! Hmph. Who does he think he is!? I grumbled  
  
"What's wrong with you wench?" came a voice from above me.  
  
"Nothing! Go away, Inuyasha."  
  
"All right, all right, yeesh. I was just asking 'cuz I was hoping you'd stop your whining."  
  
"Right."  
  
"Well, obviously I'm going to have to suffer through your whining anyway, since you won't tell me what's wrong."  
  
"It's no big deal. It's just this guy, who's being a jerk. Ermm Hiei something or other."  
  
Inuyasha jumped out of the tree  
  
"Wait! Where are you going?" I asked.  
  
"To beat the crap out of this guy so you'll stop your whining."  
  
"Aww, Inuyasha. You like me!"  
  
"HUH! How'd you get that out of, 'I'm going to go beat someone up.'?"  
  
"Well, sure you wouldn't normally get 'you like me' from that, but you were going to beat up somebody who bothered me. That's so sweet. It's like having an overprotective brother."  
  
"I just wanted you to stop whining."  
  
"You could have just jumped down and sat a couple of trees over. Then you wouldn't have heard me. But we'll play it your way. Anyway you don't need to beat him up. I have plots."  
  
"Plots."  
  
"Yep. I have some for you too. Don't think that just because you were sweet you're exempt from my revenge."  
  
"Don't think I'll go easy on you because you're a girl."  
  
"Please like I need any favors from you."  
  
"Face it. I'm better than you."  
  
"Riiight."  
  
"I am."  
  
I rolled my eyes and walked away.  
  
"I am!" Inuyasha said indignantly and then he trailed after me saying 'I am' every few seconds even going so far as to still be following me around after I went into my dorm room.  
  
"KAGOME! Just admit that I am better!"  
  
"No."  
  
"I am."  
  
"Hey Sango." I said noticing her sitting on the couch reading.  
  
"Hey I was getting worried. I thought may be you were trying to catch a squirrel or something again."  
  
"Naw. I resolved my squirrel issues long ago."  
  
"Couldn't catch one huh?"  
  
"No dammit! Fast little buggers, and they would have made perfect bait for the penguins too..."  
  
"There are so many things wrong with that plan.."  
  
"Kagome I am, just admit it already." Inuyasha said interrupting our conversation, at this point I'd had it. It was time to take drastic measures  
  
"Inuyasha, if you don't give it up and get out I'm going to start screaming."  
  
"You wouldn't do that."  
  
"Yes. I would. Now get out." When Inuyasha just stood there looking smug, I raised an eyebrow, took a deep breath and shouted, "AHHH. RAPE! FIRE! Guy with a gun! AHHHmmmph" I was forced to stop screaming when Inuyasha covered my mouth.  
  
Yusuke and Miroku came out of their room. "Thank you Inuyasha. Yeesh Kagome, what were you trying to do, deafen us?" they asked  
  
"Mmmph." I glared at Inuyasha who still had his hand over my mouth. Fortunately Inuyasha got the hint and removed the hand, before I was forced to make sure he lost it permanently.  
  
"Blame him!" I said pointing at Inuyasha.  
  
Miroku quirked a brow. "He was raping you, setting a fire, and threatening you with a gun?"  
  
"Well no. But he was being annoying and I warned him what would happen if he didn't shut up and leave," I said pouting  
  
Kurama and Boton from next door burst in holding buckets of water, they look around frantically, "Where's the fire!?!"  
  
I looked sheepish and said, "Sorry guys, false alarm." Kurama and Boton scowl and stomp away, muttering something about not letting anyone or anything else interrupt them any more.  
  
Miroku waggles his eyebrows, "I wonder what exactly they didn't want interrupted. Boy I sure wish I was rooming with a girl like that...smack Oh Sango! You didn't think I'd forgotten you, did you? It's just that whenever I try to take our relationship to the next level you smack" Miroku moaned, "Slap me down.."  
  
"You letch!! Like that's the reason I smacked you in the first place! You were thinking perverted thoughts about Boton!"  
  
"Yeah, for all you know they could be playing Mah Jong. You know how hard it is to get back into the rhythm when you've been interrupted."  
  
Miroku snickered, "That's not the kind of rhythm they're interested in." Sango smacked him upside the head again.  
  
"You shouldn't talk about Boton and Kurama that way!" I scolded.  
  
"Ermm Kagome, judging by the sounds we heard in our room, they aren't playing cards...." Yusuke added.  
  
Sango and I look at each other. "YOU PERVERTS!!" BAM "I can't believe you were listening to them!" CRASH "How could you!?!" BOOM"  
  
Kurama and Boton came in again, "What's all the commotion about this time?"  
  
"They were listening to you guys!"  
  
"So?"  
  
"You don't have a problem with that!?!"  
  
"No. Why should we? Come to think of it why do you care that they listened to us play Soul Caliber 2?"  
  
"Errmm...Eavesdropping is bad??"  
  
She rolled her eyes, "Whatever. Try to keep it down." Boton said as they left.  
  
As soon as they were gone Yusuke and Miroku fell on the floor rolling with laughter.  
  
"Not funny!" I yelled as Sango and I stalked to our rooms. We didn't talk to them for the rest of the night. 


	4. Chapter 4

NEXT MORNING  
  
I jerked awake to the sound of girly shrieks. I looked at the clock and groaned. I still had an hour until I had to be up. Then I remembered who must be screaming and better yet, why they were screaming and I smiled and snuggled deep into my pillow and let the sounds of horrified screams lull me back to sleep.  
  
I was shaken awake half an hour later. I instantly started laughing at the sight that greeted me. Yusuke and Miroku stood above me scowling.  
  
"Why won't this stuff come off??"  
  
"Because sharpie is a permanent marker??"  
  
"You used SHARPIE on us!!"  
  
They looked really pained as they said it. In fact, they looked like they didn't like their new looks. I don't see why not. Yusuke was sporting stylish hot pink hair with matching sharpie eye shadow and lipstick while Miroku had lovely baby blue streaks and matching blue sharpie eye shadow with ruby red lips.  
  
"Sango! Wake up. You have to look at this. We did a really good job on them."  
  
Sango looked over and burst out laughing.  
  
"It's not funny." Miroku said petulantly.  
  
"Yeah it is," she said still laughing.  
  
They looked at each other and smirked a little bit, "Well, maybe. Just a little....can you help us get this off now?"  
  
"It probably won't come all the way off no matter what we do...at least not today anyway."  
  
"WHAT!"  
  
"Relax, we can get it to fade," mentally 'A little' "Besides, I think you look cute this way." I said on my way to the bathroom. As I rummaged through the medicine cabinet I called back to Sango, "Hey what do you think, the cold cream or the astringent?"  
  
"The astringent works better."  
  
"How would you know?"  
  
"Well there was this one time..."  
  
"Never mind. I don't want to know. All right," I said as I walked back into the room, "Yusuke, Miroku, this is astringent. First it will taste awful, so don't lick your lips after we clean them. Second, keep your eyes closed really tight when we do them or badness will ensue."  
  
A few seconds later Miroku started sputtering.  
  
"We told you."  
  
A couple of minutes later Yusuke jumped up clutching his eye.  
  
"AHHH! It burns!"  
  
I shook my head, "You baby. You're lucky you're not a girl. You'd never survive."  
  
"Are you saying that girls are tougher than guys?"  
  
"Yes!" Sango and I said together.  
  
"How can you justify that? Girls run away shrieking at the sight of a spider!"  
  
"Spiders." I shuddered.  
  
"I squash them for Kagome, so it's not like all girls are scared of spiders."  
  
"How about snakes?"  
  
"Ugh." Sango said.  
  
"I get rid of them for Sango. They're just so cute."  
  
"Bats? Mice?"  
  
"Don't bother us. So that card is just a matter of personality. I'm sure some guys hate these things too. So what else do you have?" I raised an eyebow challengingly.  
  
"Girls cry easier than guys do."  
  
"Puhlease. That doesn't mean that we're weaker, just that we're more sensitive. Besides, I haven't seen Sango cry in years." I shrugged, "I do it periodically. You'd be surprised how much trouble you can get out of if you cry. Next?"  
  
"You aren't as strong."  
  
"So? Strength isn't everything. We can make up for a difference of strength by being fast, agile, flexible, and smart. Plus we aren't ashamed to use our bodies to our advantage. Anything else?"  
  
"Not that I can think of now..." Yusuke sulked, "But you haven't proven that girls are tougher than guys, only that some girls are as good as some guys."  
  
"Women have a higher tolerance for pain."  
  
"What!"  
  
"It's true. Sometimes I wish I were a guy. Women get to go through the joys of childbirth, we get cramps every month, we pluck our eyebrows, and have you ever heard of the bikini wax. Ouch. We routinely either get hairspray in our eyes or we end up poking them with the mascara wand. We burn ourselves with curling irons on a regular basis, and have you ever broken a nail? It hurts like hell, especially when you get a bleeder. Not to mention we have to deal with the pain of losing our virginity. How about you guys, what do you have to deal with?"  
  
"We shave, and we get in fights."  
  
"That all?"  
  
"Hey, none of your stuff is all that painful!"  
  
"Says the guy who acted like the world was going to come to an end when he got a little bit of astringent in his eye."  
  
"This wouldn't have happened if you hadn't put all this crap on us! Speaking of which, what did you do to our hair!?! I washed it twice and it won't come out!"  
  
"It's just a rinse. It'll come out in a couple of days."  
  
I glanced at the clock, "It's time for us to get ready Sango. By the way Yusuke, consider this my payback for the shower incident, and for that prank yesterday. You're free and clear. For now."  
  
Well, looking back on my day I have to say that was about the only interesting thing that happened. My first class was Youkai Studies, another first year course. It was kind of interesting, but about as pointless as History of Makai. Then lunch wasn't very interesting either. The food was as good as always, and watching Inu run away from the rabid fan girls chasing him was kind a fun. I wonder what got into them. looks innocent You know it might have had something to do with the rumor I spread. You know the one about Inu liking one of the girls in their group and being really flattered by her attention. Kurama and Sesshoumaru thanked me. Apparently there's this big group of girls that worship the ground the guys in our group walk on. I don't see why they don't focus on other guys. I mean sure, the guys in our group are hot, but Kurama, Kouga, and Yusuke have girlfriends. Sesshoumaru has made it abundantly clear that he's not interested and he likes Kagura, though considering she's still alive and hasn't received any threatening notes lately, I'd say that they don't know about that. Inuyasha is rude and I think he's into Kikyo. Shippo's too young for most of them, and Miroku's, well, a pervert. Besides, I'd have to kill anyone who moved on him because I have plans for him and Sango. There are plenty of other bishies outside our group too. There's that guy in my elementary healing class, I've seen several in the halls, and then there is Hiei...who isn't my type and has that attitude, but I can see why someone would think he's hot. Anyway, like I was saying the day was a total wash. I hope there's something going on in our room. I think Yusuke mentioned something about a videogame competition. It could be fun. Hey, I think I hear them coming in now...  
  
Muahaha. I am the self proclaimed queen of video games. I beat Miroku, Inuyasha, and Yusuke at Soul Calibur 2. They were amazed and annoyed. Amazed because they didn't think I could do it, and annoyed because I won twenty dollars off of each of them. Yep. I'm evil. I can't wait until they find out that I can't beat Sango most of the time. Especially if they find out the hard way.... 


	5. Chapter 5

Next Morning  
  
I woke up to silence, absolute silence, which was worrisome in itself. I cautiously stuck my head out the bedroom door. No Sango battering Miroku, no Yusuke singing in the shower, no Yash yelling at us to hurry up so we won't be late. I frowned. Where was everybody? Was this some sort of practical joke? I cautiously walked into the common room. That's when I saw him.  
  
"No! No, it can't be you. You can't hurt me anymore!"  
  
"Oh really," he said as he strode up to me, then he smacked me hard across the face and sneered, "You're mine you little bitch, and don't you ever forget it."  
  
"No, no, no, no..."  
  
'Kagome! Kagome, wake up!'  
  
"Sango??"  
  
'Yes Kagome, it's me. Wake up!'  
  
I groggily opened my eyes and saw Sango, Miroku, and Yusuke looking down at me.  
  
"Kagome...again?" Sango asked.  
  
I nodded, "It was so real this time."  
  
Yusuke looked at me funny, "What happened to your face?"  
  
I stilled and got pale, "What?"  
  
"Your face, you've got a nasty bruise coming in."  
  
My eyes widened, "No! It was just a dream. JUST A DREAM!"  
  
"All right," Sango said, ushering them out the door, "I think you guys should leave, you're just upsetting her more." When they were finally gone, she turned to me, "All right, now tell me exactly what happened."  
  
"It was the most realistic dream yet, I woke up, and there was absolute silence, so I went to see what was up, but you guys weren't here and he was. I said that it wasn't possible and he couldn't hurt me anymore. Then he smacked me and told me I was his and I shouldn't ever forget it. Then you woke me up."  
  
"And you had a bruise when you woke up. You haven't hit your head on anything recently have you? She asked looking around.  
  
"No." I replied.  
  
"Well I don't see anything around that you could have hit your head on while you were sleeping."  
  
"So you're saying..."  
  
"No! No there has to be some kind of logical explanation for this."  
  
"Well? I'm waiting."  
  
"I don't know yet."  
  
I sighed. "Well, let's just forget about it for now, all right?"  
  
"Sure, c'mon, we better start getting ready. It's going to take a lot of concealer to cover up that bruise..."  
  
Today's class was Kendo. Sango talked me into taking it. Sesshoumaru was the teacher, and he just went over basic safety rules, then set people to sparring. He sent somebody to teach me the basic maneuvers, I managed to maim my partner several times, even with the practice blade, at least until Sesshoumaru declared that I would practice with Sango. I love Sango to death, but I hate her as a teacher. She's evil. Every time I bruised her, she bruised me back. By the time lunch came around I was so sore I couldn't move without wincing.  
  
After I put my food down I lowered myself into the chair like an old granny.  
  
"Ooooo.."  
  
"What's wrong wench?"  
  
"My name's not wench!" I snarled  
  
"Ugh, whatever. What's wrong girl."  
  
"There's nothing wrong Inuyasha." I growled.  
  
Sesshoumaru sat down. "You being in kendo is what's wrong." He said to me. Then he turned to Inuyasha, "She's sore because every time she accidentally bashed Sango, Sango bashed her back."  
  
I grumbled, "With people like her as family I don't need enemies."  
  
Sesshoumaru shook his head. "You learn better Sango's way. She's trying to help you not hurt you."  
  
"Not that, she's the one who made me sign up for Kendo. I was perfectly happy with archery, which I happen to be fairly proficient at."  
  
Kurama came up to me and said quietly, "You might want to run now."  
  
"I'm too sore to run anywhere, but just for curiosity's sake, why?"  
  
"Inuyasha found out that you were behind the fan girl incident, and he decided that what's good for the goose is good for the gander."  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"I mean you now have a herd of fan boys after you."  
  
"We have fan boys!?!"  
  
"Sadly yes. Most of the school is obsessed with our group."  
  
I rolled eyes, then suddenly they widened. "Uh oh, they found me." I brightened, "Ah hah! An idea!" I stood up on the table and shouted, "AHEM, attention fan boys, I'm afraid a cruel joke has been played on you. You see, Inuyasha was enraged by jealousy when I told him, I had found my one true love and it wasn't him, so he sent you here to try and tear us apart."  
  
"So where's your true love?" one guy asked.  
  
"Oh, he isn't here yet," I said, starting to feel uneasy about this.  
  
What's his name?" piped in another.  
  
'Uh oh,' I thought nervously, 'Who to pick? I can't pick Sess cuz of Kagura, Shippos' too young, and Miroku's too perverted. I can't pick some random guys because I have a feeling they might hurt him. so it has to be someone I could not care less about seeing hurt...' at that moment I spotted a familiar head of spiky black hair walking past, and because of my fast and panicked thought processes , I acted rashly, grabbed him, and turned to face the guys.  
  
"This is my Hiei-baby." I said.  
  
"Wha-mmph" '  
  
Hiei was going to ruin everything. I had to do it!' I thought still vaguely panicked because if they didn't leave soon, Hiei was going to come out of his shocked stupor and ruin everything anyway. A few seconds later he pushed me away from him, wiped his mouth, and said, "ONNA, what the hell was that for!?!"  
  
"Are they gone? Please tell me they're gone."  
  
"Yeah, they dispersed about thirty seconds into the kiss." Kurama replied.  
  
"WHAT! Why didn't someone say something?!?"  
  
"Because it was vastly entertaining." Sesshoumaru said.  
  
"NINGEN!" Hiei said again to regain my attention.  
  
"WHAT! Oh. Don't think I wanted to do that! But you didn't leave me a choice. You were going to ruin everything. If you would have just played along...  
  
"WHAT!! Don't even try to blame this on me!" Hiei said angrily.  
  
"Whatever. You can go now. I don't need you anymore."  
  
"Hn." Then he glared at me and left.  
  
Inuyasha was just sitting there pouting.  
  
"Gee, Inu. I'm soo sorry your little plan didn't work. How did you find out it was me behind that fan girls anyway?"  
  
"After I threatened to hurt them, they were more than happy to divulge exactly who gave them the idea that I liked their attention."  
  
"You were going to hurt girls!"  
  
"Not actually. I just threatened to."  
  
"You are such a jerk."  
  
"Well if you hadn't involved them in our little feud it wouldn't have  
happened."  
  
"Correction. If you weren't rude it wouldn't have happened."  
  
"You're probably right. I have to admit I never would have thought of siccing the fan boys on you if you hadn't done it first with the fan girls."  
  
"I know I'm a genius." I grinned.  
  
Inuyasha just shook his head and ruffled my hair.  
  
You know, I think Inuyasha and I just settled our feud. Oh don't get me wrong, there will still be the occasional prank just to liven things up, but our 'prank a day' day's are over. A slightly evil thought strikes me.  
  
"Hey Yash, can you imagine the havoc we could wreak on the masses if we teamed up?"  
  
"Actually I can't, but I imagine after a few days of practice I'll have a good idea."  
  
Everybody at the table sat in shock. They'd never thought that those two would form an alliance. The school was in serious trouble. Sesshoumaru and Sango looked at each other and sighed in resignation.  
  
Bell Rings  
  
And then there was math. Uckiness. I don't know how Miroku gets better grades than I do. He spends ¾ of the class unconscious! pouts It's so unfair. My next couple of classes are always kind of boring. But I thought that Bio should be interesting after the 'incident' at lunch, but no, Hiei was his usual stoic self. However...you know the saying 'still waters run deep'? Well I intend to find out just how deep these waters run. It'll take a lot of work to get him to open up, but I'm patient, and the reward is ample. I started smiling, but it faded and I shuddered.  
  
Today was busy enough that I didn't have time to think about this morning, but now that the day's winding down, I'm really glad that tonight's the night of our sleepover. Yeah that's right, we're pulling an all-nighter, on a school night. That's why Shippo and Kanna won't be there. We declared them too young. Kouga and Ayame can't tear themselves away from each other so they won't be there either. I swear to god they go out every night. Anyway, we have the whole thing all planned out.  
  
The guys are going to take over the common room for a video game tournament, and us girls are going to do girl stuff in our room. We did food runs earlier today on the breaks. Oh yeah. We got enough food to feed a small army. We got 5 bags of chips, popcorn, we got two 24 packs of pop, one mountain dew, one Pepsi, we got M&Ms and starburst, the ever popular Twinkies, and who could forget Oreos. Plus we ordered Better than Sex Cake and Pocky from the kitchen, and plan on getting pizza delivered. Oh the food!  
  
Sango and I set up our room earlier. We have all the stuff for makeovers and manicures ready and waiting. Plus we've made sure that everyone got their homework done early. The girls should be getting here any minute. The guys have been here since they got out of their last classes. Just then I heard the wolf whistles and the shouts. sigh Maybe we shouldn't have agreed to have them wear their pajamas over, instead of changing here. I went out to see who was being victimized by the guys. It was Yukina. I had to admit she did look good in her pink satin short shorts and white spaghetti strap top. Then again Sango and I look pretty good in our pj's too. The oversized midnight blue silk man's pajama top made her look really delicate and feminine, and I thought I looked okay in my wife beater and the matching bottoms to her top. Speaking of Sango, she went to help Kikyo carry the food she picked up earlier from the kitchen over to our room from hers. They should be back any minute there's a knock at the door That's probably them. I tried to answer the door, but a small stampede of males got in my way. Turns out it was Boton anyway. What was really funny was the way Kurama kept looking at her. When he finally managed to blurt out, "Aren't those my clothes you're wearing?" to Boton, I took another look at her ensemble of a huge flannel shirt and boxers, and looked at Kurama and mouthed 'flannel??" at him.  
  
"WHAT?!" he said indignantly," I wear it when I garden!"  
  
Everybody just looked at him like he was crazy and shrugged. Then, of course I showed Boton where to stow her stuff, and by the time we returned we saw a horde of guys staring at the door in anticipation and practically panting. Yukina just shook her head, Boton looked bemusedly at Kurama, and I started to scold them...  
  
"You know Sess, I expect this from everyone here except you and Kurama, and who are the most avid..." I was interrupted by Sango yelling through the door,  
  
"Will somebody open this thing?! We don't have any hands here!"  
  
WHOOSH Suddenly the door was open and there was Inuyasha grinning down at Kikyo. I rolled my eyes and went to help them with the stuff, but before I'd gotten two steps Kagura was at the door, and of course the sight of so many girls in pajamas had rendered the guys pretty much useless. So I had to take charge before this deteriorated into chaos.  
  
Boton, show Kagura and Kikyo what to do with their stuff. Yukina, Sango you put the food over there on the mini fridge. "You guys," I said, looking at them sternly "need, to sit down and get on with your tournament, rather than obstruct the flow of traffic, stare, and breathe down our necks."  
  
By the time I was done with my little rant, the girls had all come back. It was only then that I had the time to notice Kagura and Kikyo's pajamas. Kagura had on a long black silk robe and Kikyo had a red silk pajama set. Then I took a look at the group as a whole and decided we looked pretty hot and I couldn't really blame the guys for their reactions. I'd have to apologize to them later though, cuz it was definitely time to get down to business. I looked at my watch. It was only a little after 9:00.  
  
"Hmm, what do you think girls, should load up on junk food and we do our thing for an hour then order pizza?"  
  
A chorus of affirmative answers met my question. So we proceeded to our room. I picked up a fingernail file and started filing away at Kagura's nails, while Kikyo applied a face mask to Sango, and Yukina and Boton did their toes.  
  
There was silence for a while, then I broke it by saying, "Well this is a sleep over. Shouldn't we be dishing about guys..."  
  
"It's true," Kikyo said, "Proper sleep-over etiquette and all."  
  
At this point, in the common room the guys stopped what they were doing.  
  
Miroku said, "Did anyone else hear that?"  
  
"Yeah, where's it coming from?" Yusuke asked.  
  
"Shh," said Sess, and then all the guys heard a girl's voice and traced it to a vent in the bathroom that must connect to the girls' room. Soon every guy was scrunched in the small space just in time to hear Boton say...  
  
"Well," Boton said, "I think it's obvious that I like Kurama."  
  
"And every girl here can see why. Those eyes are just beyond belief." I said  
  
"And that hair...oh my god it's gorgeous." interjected Kikyo.  
  
"Yeah, I wonder what he uses on it." said Sango  
  
Boton replied, "He just uses regular shampoo, his hair is a natural phenomenon."  
  
"And his hair and eyes aren't the only thing he's got going for him," said Yukina, "Part of his attraction is his attitude. He's obviously oblivious to his good looks and for some reason that's attractive."  
  
"Not only that but he's polite and respectful! Not like some of the bakas around here." Sango said.  
  
"And he has this way of making you feel like you're the only thing that matters to him at that particular moment." Boton sighed  
  
"And doesn't the way he's so quiet make you want to be the one to make him scream?" I asked grinning wickedly.  
  
"Kagome!" Sango said as she hit me with a pillow.  
  
"What! I was just saying what everyone was thinking."  
  
"That's true." a couple of the girls admitted.  
  
Back in the bathroom Kurama is staring at the vent in shock. He had no idea that the girls thought of him like that. Of course he was kind of huddled in a corner to escape from the various death glares being directed at him. The next statement caused everyone's attention to snap back to the vent in shock.  
  
"Sooo, while we're on the subject Boton, what kind of underwear does Kurama wear?" sweet, innocent, little Yukina asked.  
  
"What! I'm not going to tell you that!" Boton said indignantly.  
  
"Ah...so she knows, she's just not telling. How about if we manage to guess it, then you confirm??" I asked  
  
"I guess there's no harm in that," Boton said reluctantly.  
  
"All right," said Kagura, "Hmm...green briefs???" she asked.  
  
"No I don't think so," I interjected, "Boxers are so much more about comfort. I say cotton boxers...what color though..."  
  
"Red," piped in Sango, "That color just suits him."  
  
"Well, Boton? Ante up, are we right or not?"  
  
"Bravo, you guys are good at this game."  
  
In the bathroom, Kurama stared at the vent, "How'd they know?" He asked vaguely astonished.  
  
Back in the room, Kagura started laughing. "Guys, I got an idea, you have to promise not to laugh."  
  
"All right, all right," we all said, "Just tell us already."  
  
"You guys have all heard of edible underwear, right?"  
  
"Right." We said cautiously.  
  
"Well what flavor would Kurama be?"  
  
"Hmm, I think of Kurama as a combination of flavors, something fresh and sweet with just a little tang, so I'd have to say Kurama is...strawberries and spearmint." Kikyo put out there.  
  
"I would totally agree with that." Boton said  
  
"Yeah that is pretty good."  
  
"I certainly can't come up with anything better."  
  
In the bathroom the guys were all just sitting there. 'Edible underwear,' was the unanimous thought, 'how'd they come up with that?' When someone finally spoke, it was to say, "You know, I'm beginning to think the girls are worse than us." Everyone nodded in agreement.  
  
"All right, Yukina it's your turn."  
  
"Well obviously I like Kuwabara."  
  
"Yes but WHY?" I asked in mystification.  
  
"Well, okay so he's not the brightest crayon in the box, but he's sweet, and kind, he protects me, he's honorable, and he likes animals."  
  
I shrugged "Well to each her own I guess," then I shuddered, "As much as I hate to say this, what kind of underwear?"  
  
Boton piped up, "I think I've got this one, pink cotton boxers with kitties on them." She looked to Yukina for confirmation and she nodded, "And for a flavor I'd have to say Kuwabara's pure vanilla."  
  
"Agreed." Everyone chorused.  
  
"All right Kagura," I said, "It's your turn, who do you like?"  
  
In the bathroom Sess listened intently.  
  
Kagura blushes, "Well, I kind of like Sesshoumaru. A lot."  
  
"Well what are you going to do about it girl?"  
  
"Nothing, I don't think he likes me back."  
  
"Trust me girl. You've got nothing to worry about."  
  
Kagura looked at me questioningly and I nodded.  
  
"All right. I guess I'll ask him to the movies or something sometime."  
  
"Great! Now on to the business of flavor and underwear...Any suggestions."  
  
"Ermm...he looks like the type for black silk boxers, dark and luxurious ooo and dark chocolate for the flavor."  
  
"I don't know," I said, "He wears way too much white to wear black underwear. I would say gold, but that's too gaudy....my final vote is on white silk boxers."  
  
"Also, dark chocolate is too bitter for Sesshoumaru," Kagura put in, "He is definitely sweet enough deep down to rate caramel."  
  
Again everyone chorused "Agreed."  
  
"All right Sango's turn."  
  
"I guess if I had to pick someone I'd pick the pervert."  
  
grin 'This is going to be easier than I thought to get them together.' I thought. Then I looked around. "Well any suggestions"  
  
"This is a hard one."  
  
"Everyone nodded."  
  
"All right, let's break down his personality, for the flavor. What is his first impression on people."  
  
"Well," said Sango, "He comes off as really nice and polite at first, until he hits you with his pervertedness." rolls eyes "His pervertedness might even be hot if he'd just focus it on one girl when they're in private."  
  
"Hmm," I said taking a chip, then I got all excited, "Nacho cheese, guys. It's cool at first but then it works up to a slow burn."  
  
Sango mused, "I don't think that's quite right...but it'll do for now. As for the underwear, purple just seems right for him."  
  
"Well, purple is decadent, just like him...hmm style...Miroku's bikini's all the way."  
  
"Satin. I say satin's a good fabric for Miroku. So we have purple satin bikini underwear. Anyone object?"  
  
There was silence.  
  
"All right then. Kikyo it's your turn."  
  
"I like Inuyasha," she said unabashed, "And I say he definitely goes without."  
  
"Yeah," most of the girls agreed he was the type to go commando.  
  
"He's definitely cinnamon and sugar. Spicy and sweet at the same time."  
  
"He does have the temper and the attitude with that core of gruff softness." Kikyo said.  
  
"All in favor?"  
  
"AYE!!"  
  
"All right Kagome. It's your turn."  
  
"I really don't like anyone??"  
  
All the girls glared.  
  
"Fine, fine. I guess Hiei's hot."  
  
All the girls just stared.  
  
"What!?!"  
  
"Jeez," Kagura said, "I thought I went for the unattainable ones, but you've got me beat."  
  
All the girls nodded, and in the bathroom the guys were doing the same, except for Sesshoumaru and Kurama, who were having the unanimous thought that if anyone could do it, Kagome could.  
  
"Fine." I said pouting, "you're the ones who made me pick someone. And I say black cotton boxers, and he's definitely those little red candies...what are they called...I think its red hots.  
  
All the girls shrugged, "We don't know him well enough to dispute you, but he's always seemed kind of cold to us."  
  
"Oh, trust me, he's hot!"  
  
Everyone looked around, "We done?" someone asked.  
  
"Technically yes, but I feel kind of bad that Yusuke got left out. I think I've got it too."  
  
"Well do tell."  
  
"His flavor is root beer and his underwear are purple and green plaid flannel boxers."  
  
Everyone stared.  
  
"You know that fits..." Yukina said.  
  
"Okay we agree."  
  
I looked at my watch. "Ugh guys it's definitely time to order pizza. I'll go tell the guys..."  
  
In the bathroom all the guy's eyes get wide and they start to scramble for the door leaping over each other and stepping on fingers.... 


	6. Chapter 6

All right guys, here it is, as always unedited. Sorry it took so long, and hope you enjoy.  
  
PS. Darkstar, if you destroy my computer, I'll erase your identity...or sick a horde of angry fanpeoples after you. menacing grin oh yessss...  
  
Everybody thanks for the support. Authors always appreciate it.  
  
Somehow all the guys made it to the couch before Kagome got to the living room. How, they had no idea, but by god they were thankful.  
  
In the Girls' room  
  
All right, all right. Yeesh. So we've decided on one large pepperoni pizza, half extra cheese, half extra sauce, and one medium taco pizza, with two orders of cheese sticks? Everyone nods. shakes head in exasperation and heads to the common room, where she could hear the guys loudly encouraging either Miroku or Yusuke.  
  
"C'mon Yusuke! Petal to the metal!"  
  
"Miroku! You can't let Yusuke beat you!"  
  
I walked over and looked at the TV screen. "First of all, I would like to point out that not only are you not playing a racing game, but this game is single player, and it's paused. So would you care to tell me what's going on?"  
  
The boys' silence turned out to be their undoing, because in their hurry they'd left the bathroom door open, and Sango choose that moment to start talking loudly to Kagura. My brow furrowed. "What was that?" I asked  
  
Kagura started laughing and I managed to trace the sound back to the bathroom, where I found I could hear everything the girls were saying. I scowled, and yelled at the girls through the vent, "Get out here. We've got a problem."  
  
As soon as I had started toward the bathroom the guys had made a mad dash for the door. Unfortunately for them, Kuwabara tripped and took two other guys down with him and Yusuke was so panicked he couldn't unlock the door. It took the girls a whole three seconds to get out here, but when they did they just looked at the guys crowded around the door in confusion.  
  
I sighed in exasperation, before I remembered that they didn't know what was going on. Rather than go into the whole explanation and let the guys get away, I just yelled, "Stop them!"  
  
They didn't even question me they just quickly went about their business.  
  
Boton yelled out, "Kurama, you stop right there!"  
  
Kurama sighed and trudged back to the couch, head down. Kikyo and Kagura were dragging Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru back to the sofa by their ears. Sango had knocked Miroku out and was dragging him back to the couch. Yukina could be heard telling Kuwabara that if he didn't get on the couch right now, he wouldn't play with Bubbles for a month. Personally, I don't know what Bubbles is, and I don't want to, but threatening Kuwabara with its absence was effective. He hurried over to the couch.  
  
This left me to deal with Yusuke, who was still fumbling with the lock. He finally got it and had just wrenched the door open when I called out, "Yusuke, if you leave this room, Sharpie will be the least of your worries." Yusukes eyes widened and he closed the door. "Now sit down." He rushed over to the sofa. "Good." I said smiling grimly.  
  
"Would you mind telling us why we just rounded up the guys like cattle?" Kikyo asked  
  
"Girls, they've been spying on us."  
  
"How!?!"  
  
"There's a vent in the bathroom that must connect to our room because it carries sound perfectly."  
  
"So they've been listening in on our conversation."  
  
"Yes."  
  
"All of it?"  
  
"That would be my guess. Sango, why don't you call for the pizza. Deciding on their punishment could take a while, and we're bound to get hungry."  
  
So, after Sango called the pizza guy, we huddled in a corner.  
  
"What do you guys think?" Sango asked.  
  
"I think they should be tortured to the full extent possible short of breaking any major laws.  
  
"I don't know," said Yukina, "That seems a little harsh."  
  
"Well. What do you guys suggest then?"  
  
"Perhaps, they should spend a day as our personal slaves?"  
  
"They have to play Truth or Dare with us as a way to get back at them for hearing things they shouldn't have?"  
  
"Hmm...I think this will work. Okay here's my idea. They each spend a week as a personal slave to one of us. One day of which they will be dressed as French maids, and tonight they play truth or dare with us, only they don't have any opt out options, they have to do what we ask." Just then the door bell rang, I went and got it, ignored the pizza guys open mouthed staring at us, then paid the guy and tossed everyone a soda and sat back down. "Well do you guys agree?" I asked and then took a bite of pizza.  
  
"Kagura and Sango instantly agreed, while Boton, Kikyo, and Yukina had to deliberate. After a few minutes they sighed and said, "Fine, although it still seems a little too harsh to us." We all stood up.  
  
"Well?" the guys asked anxiously, "What do you have in store for us."  
  
grins evilly "Alas, some of us are too soft hearted to take full advantage of this golden opportunity, but we managed to compromise. You are sentenced to a weeks worth of slavery, to yours truly," I said gesturing toward all the girls, "You will also play truth or dare with us tonight, and you are the exclusive recipients of all questions and dares, plus you don't get any opt out option. Are we clear?"  
  
"I guess it isn't so bad," one of the guys muttered.  
  
I grinned, "Did I forget to mention that one day of your personal slavery must be spent in a French maid's outfit?"  
  
There was much yelling, shock, and whining after that proclamation. Not to mention the threats made.  
  
"Awww...poor babies." I grinned, "Let the games begin....." 


	7. Chapter 7

Sorry guys. I really meant to update sooner, but I shouldn't be doing it now even. It's a busy time of the year for all high school seniors, with final tests, prom, graduation, not to mention the fact that all the teachers always pile on homework at the end of the year. This is beside everything you have to do normally. Sorry for the excuses. Now, on with the story.  
  
All right girls, is there anything springing to mind that will make up for the emotional trauma they've put us through?"  
  
"Emotional trauma we've pu..."  
  
I silenced Yusuke with a glare, and then smiled sweetly at the others, "Well?"  
  
Kagura opened her mouth as if to say something and then closed it again.  
  
"Yes Kagura?"  
  
"Well...it's just that I really want to know if we were right, about the underwear, I mean."  
  
"Excellent idea Kagura. Now, we know that we were right about Kuwabara and Kurama...c'mon guys spit it out, were we right?"  
  
Sesshoumaru shook his head no. We gaped  
  
"I thought for sure....okay; we'll figure it out later. For now just go around answering yes or no."  
  
Yusuke nodded.  
  
Inuyasha nodded his face tomato red.  
  
Miroku shook his head no.  
  
"Well girls what do you think we did wrong with Miroku?"  
  
Sango smacked her head, "Duh! Kagome, you remember that time we walked in on Miroku meditating?"  
  
"Nah, it's kind of fuzzy, wasn't that the day when you woke me up in the middle of the night?"  
  
"Yes, but it was seven in the morning, not the middle of the night."  
  
"Three in the morning, seven in the morning, it's all the same to me."  
  
"Moving on, Miroku was meditating in boxers! So purple satin boxers."  
  
Miroku nods and grins lecherously, "So nice of you to notice my underwear Sango."  
  
Sango smiled sweetly, which I knew immediately meant nothing good.  
  
"I just took note of the color. Tinky Winkie mean anything to you?"  
  
I burst out laughing, but everybody else just looked confused.  
  
"What? No one watches American television?"  
  
Everyone shakes their head no.  
  
"Well, Tinky Winkie was a purple cartoon character who carried around a red purse and was accused of being gay propaganda."  
  
Miroku's mouth opened and closed for a second then he just glowered as everyone laughed at him.  
  
"All right girls, what about Sess?" Everyone was silent.  
  
"I don't know." Kagura admitted, "I thought we were pretty on the money."  
  
"Wait. Sess, exactly how many pair of boxers has your sister given you?"  
  
"The only boxers I have were given to me by my sister. I don't usually wear them."  
  
Eyes widen as the girls contemplate the possibilities.  
  
"Oooo Sesshy, you're naughty."  
  
"What! Underwear are too restricting!"  
  
We all gaped.  
  
"Oh. You hadn't guessed that huh?"  
  
We all shook our heads as we felt out eyes drawn inexplicably downward. At least until the other guys came to their senses and cover the girls' eyes. That left me and Kagura. I quietly contemplated the sight before me for a few minutes then shrugged and turned away, but Kagura was still in a stupor, and Sess was starting to look uncomfortable.  
  
"AHEM." Kagura looked up at me in surprise that soon turned to embarrassment.  
  
"Well girls, now that we've satisfied that bit of curiousity...what say you we find out who they like, since they know who we like."  
  
The girls shrugged.  
  
"Sure," said Sango unenthusiastically.  
  
"Oh, come on. They already know that you like them, wouldn't you rather know now if they like you back so you can resolve things?"  
  
"I never said I liked the pervert. I said if I had to pick somebody I'd pick him. All the good guys were taken."  
  
Oy. Forget everything I said about getting those two together being easier than I thought it would be. It's time to haul out the big guns. I already have a plan. Trust me. They'll be together by the end of the month.  
  
"Whatever Sango. All right guys, around the circle."  
  
"I think it's obvious I like Boton. Sorry girls."  
  
Boton glared at Kurama, "Don't you be getting a big head. They know you're mine, and if you so much as look twice at one of them..."  
  
Kurama laughed nervously, "Boton, honey, why would I look at someone else when I've got you?"  
  
"Keiko." Yusuke said, before a fight could erupt.  
  
"What?" Boton asked.  
  
"I like Keiko."  
  
"You know, Yusuke, one of these days I'm going to have to meet the girl who can put up with you." I said.  
  
"Yeah, yeah, go already Kuwabara."  
  
"Yukina! My love!"  
  
I shuddered, "Uhhh huhh. Sessho, your turn."  
  
"Kagura, would go to dinner with me?"  
  
"Of course," she replied.  
  
"Excellent."  
  
"Inuyasha, wanna see a movie?" Kikyo asked.  
  
"Feh."  
  
"All right then. Sunday matinee sound good?"  
  
"Sure."  
  
"Well," Miroku said, "I love all women."  
  
"Really Miroku? You love me? I was afraid to say it before, because I didn't think I had a chance, but I love you too!" I said as I ran over to embrace him. Then he groped me.  
  
SMACK!!  
  
"You were supposed to be scared Miroku, not overly enthusiastic."  
  
"What can I say? In my head I was quivering with terror, but my body, especially my hand has a mind of its own.  
  
I glared at him. My eyes were starting to get tired I was glaring so much.  
  
"Ugh. Well girls, unless you can think of anything else, maybe we should figure out who's going to be slave to whom?"  
  
First, I would like to say that I don't own the teletubbies, and I have no idea if it was developed in America or not. Second, does anyone have any suggestions for truths or dares they desperately want in the story, or is it fine the way it is? I thought may be it was a little short. Please keep in mind the characters and the story's rating. I'm not even going to try to come up with a dare. I'm not even good at it when I'm the one playing. shrugs Thanks to everyone who reviewed, and sorry again. I always feel so bad when I don't update when I say I will. Oh also, does anyone know how to put in italics? I wanted some emphasis on a couple of words, several times throughout the story. It's just not quite the same without it. Next installment as soon as possible, but keep in mind, it is a busy time for me. ciao. 


	8. Chapter 8

All right, guys, here it is, the next installment. Sorry it took so long. I got lazy. Anyway, people have asked for more of the Hiei/Kag angle, but I don't think they would just jump into a relationship, so...it'll take a little time. I figured this out and I'm pretty sure there's going to be a nice chunk of Hiei/Kag in about 3 or 4 chapters and it'll probably continue as a trend from there. I just had to figure out a way for them to spend more time together. But for now, you'll have to settle for the bits and pieces I'm going to be giving in the next couple of chapters.  
  
LAST CHAPTER: Well girls, we should figure out who's going to be slave to whom, unless you can think of anything else...?  
  
"No," Yukina said, "I think we're even. It would be wrong to take advantage of the situation."  
  
Boton, Kikyo, Kagura, and Sango all nodded. Damn their collective senses of honor. Without them they could have potentially been truly evil cohorts. Oh well.  
  
I sighed, "All right. How do you propose we split them up then? We have a couple of choices. We could go with pairing off the people that like each other, but I have a feeling that that would cause some of the girls to be reluctant to exercise the full extent of their authority over the guys while they're in this stint of bondage."  
  
"Ehem, well if it would cause whichever of the girls who got me to feel better, then I will tell you now, that I have no objection about being used to the full extent of bondage." Miroku said.  
  
"Miroku, would you get you mind out of the gutter!" exclaimed Inuyasha.  
  
"Yeah," Yusuke said indignantly, "You're going to get us into more trouble!"  
  
Miroku looked vaguely confused, "What are you guys talking about? We listened in on their private conversation. We deserve retribution for the act. If this is the way they choose to do it then so be it. Although I feel that French maid costumes might be taking it a little far, I am prepared to accept the consequences for my actions.  
  
Everyone stared at Miroku. Maybe he wasn't just a pervert after all....  
  
SMACK  
  
Maybe not.  
  
Sango smiled, "I think we should take someone we don't like in order to avoid tension. I'll take Miroku."  
  
I mentally wince, ouch. Poor Miroku. I sighed, "Let's see... I guess I'll take Inuyasha."  
  
The moment that the rest of the girls realized that someone was going to have to order Sesshoumaru around there was a mad dash for the boys. Poor Yukina, who was standing in the other girls' way and didn't move quite fast enough, got knocked over the back of the couch.  
  
The scene over by the boys reminded me of a cartoon. You know, when the characters would get into a fight and all that you could see was the dust cloud with an occasional arm or leg sticking out? Yeah, well, that was the image in our common room. It certainly wasn't dispelled when Boton started yelling, "I got one! I got one!" while pulling one of the guys out by a leg, "I got...." She peers at the owner of the leg, "...Yusuke!" Or by Kagura, as she yanked Kurama up by a fistful of red hair, then Kikyo yanked Kuwabara off the ground by his ear, and the image was complete. Well, except for Yukina, who was still on the couch, feet in the air, head hanging off the edge of the seat, scowling.  
  
"I hate you guys," she sighed, "Well Sesshoumaru I guess you're with me."  
  
I looked around the room. It was a complete mess. "Well slaves, I think your first task has to be to clean this place up."  
  
The other girls looked around.  
  
"Well, what are you waiting for?" Boton asked Yusuke.  
  
Kagura raised an eyebrow and looked pointed from the mess to Kurama.  
  
Meanwhile Kikyo was talking to Kuwabara very slowly, "You...Clean...Up... This...Room...Now!"  
  
Yukina was the real surprise. She was shouting in a voice that sounded remarkably like a drill sergeant, "You clean up that mess! NOW slave!"

Sesshoumaru just looked at her and showed no signs of even potentially cleaning up the mess.  
  
"MOVE, MOVE, MOVE!"  
  
He just raised his eyebrows and went to work.  
  
We girls looked at each other, and I said, "Girls, we may have created a monster."  
  
Yukina blushed, "I always wanted to know what having a slave would be like."  
  
I grin, "Well then take full advantage of the opportunity then, because there probably won't be another one."  
  
Yukina gets this evil little grin on her face that none of us had ever seen before, "Oh, I intend to."  
  
"Now, what else do we have for the guys to do?" Sango asked, "Personally I'm not going to trust Miroku anywhere near my underwear drawer."

"Or your diary," I smirked.  
  
"Journal," she shudders, "Diary is just too girly."

"Whatever you say Ms. Man."  
  
"Yeah, yeah, seriously though, what do we make them do?"  
  
"Well I can have Inuyasha weed my part of the garden."  
  
"We can make them carry our stuff to classes too."  
  
"After classes are over we can have them fetch us stuff, sharpen pencils..."  
  
"Girls, we such at this, we need to get devious. Sango we need to get in touch with the master."

"No, not..."  
  
"Yes Sango. It's time to call my mom."  
  
"I don't know Kagome. Is what they did really bad enough to rate Aunt Myo?'  
  
"Yes. And you know how she gets when someone's wronged her little girl."  
  
"Yeah," shudders "Evil. Is that math teacher that almost failed you still in therapy?"

"Yes. I'm pretty sure I would have failed the class if he weren't so scared of mom."  
  
"I think you're right," sighs, "All right get it over with."  
  
"All right, back in a while, keep brainstorming while I'm on the phone."  
  
20 minutes later  
  
"All right guys, what do you have?"

"Well we decided that everybody but Miroku can clean our rooms and do our laundry, Sango has some alternative tasks for Miroku, but she won't tell us what they are..."  
  
"Anyway, they can all do the bathrooms and common rooms." Kikyo interrupted Kagura.  
  
"And of course the fetch and carry thing, plus we decided that each boy would have a few special tasks that the girls responsible for him would come up with, and that's it."  
  
"Beside the fact that we decided to make them wear the French maid costumes on Sunday when we don't have any classes, it's one thing for us to laugh at them, but quite another for anyone else to do so. We'd have to seek revenge and all that, and it's just too much work."  
  
"I agree. We'll put mom's plan into effect on Saturday then."  
  
"Well, what IS the plan?"  
  
I grinned, "Oh you'll see. This is gonna be fun."  
  
.


	9. Chapter 9

Yeesh. I just finished editing my story. I didn't realize how often I asterisked in actions, or how often I switched tenses in the first few chapters. And why didn't someone tell me that Kouga and Ayame disappeared a couple chapters back with no explanation? Not to mention all the typos, and other errors. I think I got most of it fixed, although towards the end there my eyes were going all funny....too much time staring at the computer screen I guess. Anyway, I think it's an infinitely easier read now. Congrats to me. Though I still haven't figured out how to italicize anything, or how to keep the format constant in the transfer from word to FF, anyway, anything that should have been italicized is now in capitals or underlined. Nothing I can do about the format yet. Sorry it took so long to update, I don't know what it is about summer, but I get lulled into laziness. Go figure. Plus I'm not all that fond of typing....but enough excuses, on with the story!  
  
NEXT DAY  
  
"Oh Mirroookuuu. Fetch me my shoes would you? Oh and while you're there it'd be great if you'd organize my clothes by style and color, if you'd be so kind...  
  
"Well actually..."  
  
"Rhetorical question, do it."  
  
"Yes Mistress."  
  
"You know, I could get used to this mistress stuff."  
  
"Sango you've always acted like everyone's mistress." I put in wryly, "Oh and Inuyasha, get me orange juice."  
  
"You know you could just go to the commons and eat breakfast like a normal person."  
  
I glared at him. "All right, all right, I'll get your damn orange juice," he grunted, stalking off.  
  
Miroku finished with Sango's closet and brought her the requested pair of shoes, just as I was finishing off my orange juice. We sat there for a minute. "Well," I suggested cheerily, "Let's go see what Kikyo and Kagura are doing, shall we?"  
  
Sango looked at her watch, "Eh we have half an hour before class starts, why not?" She started toward the door, then paused, snapped her fingers and demanded, "Come slaves."  
  
The guys rolled their eyes but followed meekly enough. We knocked on their door, and someone called out, "You may enter."  
  
Sango and I looked at each other and then slowly opened the door. We were greeted by a surprising sight. Kikyo and Kagura weren't alone. Boton and Yukina were also there, and they'd turned the room into a mini salon.  
  
The girls were all leaning back comfortably into the couch, using Kuwabara as a foot stool, after all not even he could screw that up, while Kurama finished up their pedicures, and judging by the results he apparently has an innate talent for nails. Sesshoumaru was idly waving a large fan in the general direction of the girls while looking extremely bored, and Yusuke was running around frantically trying to fulfill the demands of all four girls. He was currently, and rather unsuccessfully, trying to rub Kikyo's neck and pour a glass of juice at the same time.  
  
"Hey! How come you didn't invite us to this little party?" I said pouting  
  
"Well we didn't really think it would be wise to have Miroku around while we're in bath robes."  
  
"Too true, too true."  
  
"I'm not that bad!" Miroku protested indignantly.  
  
I glanced at my watch, fifteen minutes until class starts. Just enough time to set my plan into action. "Miroku, would you step outside with me, I need to have a word."  
  
Miroku looked at me curiously, "Sure."  
  
"Great, c'mon," I said opening the door.  
  
Miroku followed obediently, and I shut the door behind him. "All right Miroku, here's the deal, I'm going to help you get Sango, but I'll need your cooperation to pull this off."  
  
Miroku looked suspicious, "What's in this for you?"  
  
"Look Miroku, Sango's not just my cousin, she's my best friend, and she needs someone...Look do you want my help or not?"  
  
"Certainly, what did you have in mind?"  
  
"Well, I'm sure this will be hard for you, but you can't grope anybody. Not even Sango. For quite a while.  
  
"Not even one?"  
  
"That's right, not even one. Sango's main problem with you is that you grope any girl you can find, and you do it constantly, whether you're in public or in private. If you can manage to reign in your perverted impulses long enough, she'll be able to get close enough to get to know you, and you've got exactly the right personality for her. I know. I know more about Sango than anyone else. Remember, even after I manage to get you too together, you can only grope Sango, and only in PRIVATE. Got it?"  
  
"And this'll get me Sango."  
  
"Yes, if we play our cards right. Remember what I said. No groping, starting now."  
  
I went rigid, and my eyebrow twitched, then I glared at Miroku.  
  
"What you'd deny a guy one for the road?"  
  
"YES! But since it's done with, I guess I can let it go. Sow I'll try to get you guys some alone time toward the end of the week. No groping! Just talk to her, I don't care what about. You're childhood, why you chose this school, you're favorite things. Just get to know each other."  
  
"All right." Miroku said.  
  
"Just to be clear you really do like Sango right? That stuff about loving all women was just a joke..."  
  
"Yes. I respect and admire all women, but I do really like Sango."  
  
"Good. Piece of advice, don't ever tell Sango I did this. She'll think you were playing her."  
  
"Agreed."  
  
"All right. Well we have to get to class."  
  
"What do you have today?"  
  
"Archery. You?"  
  
"Monk Training."  
  
"Now that's amusing. You got put in MONK Studies!"  
  
"I think they made that decision based on my family history."  
  
I burst out laughing just as Sango came running up to us. She stopped short.  
  
"Kagome, are you having a friendly conversation with the pervert?"  
  
"Yeah, he's really not that bad, once you get past the pervertedness anyway."  
  
"So he hasn't groped you once today?"  
  
"Nope."  
  
"Oh My God! The world is tipping off its axis and we've got front row tickets to the Ice Capades in hell!"  
  
"Ha Ha." Miroku said wryly.  
  
As amused as I was by their interaction, we were definitely going to be late for class. "Guuuyys..." I whined.  
  
"All right, all right, c'mon Miroku, we're going in the same direction, let's walk together." Sango said sweetly. Then they walked off together.  
  
Uh oh. Sango wants something from him. Then I looked at my watch and ran toward the dojo.  
  
Sango's POV  
  
"All right. Spill. Why the sudden change in attitude? Are you into Kagome or something?"  
  
"No. I...like someone else, and Kagome gave me some perspective on her."  
  
"Really. Well first you might want to stop groping every girl in sight."  
  
"Yeah that's what she said."  
  
"All right then, see you."  
  
"Bye Sango."  
  
Kagome's POV  
  
'I'm gonna be late, I'm gonna be late, I'm gonna be-ooof.' I looked up dazed from my position on the floor, then I scowled, "You again!"  
  
"Baka oaf. Watch where you're going."  
  
I sneered, "Please spare me."  
  
Then I got up off the floor and headed for the dojo door only to see Hiei open it ahead of me.  
  
"Oh god no! Tell me you are not in archery!"  
  
He growled, "Mind your business. I'm one of the Kendo instructors."  
  
Then he stalked into the dojo. "Well somebody woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning." I mumbled, but apparently not quietly enough because he stopped, and without bothering to turn around said, "My room is right below yours, and believe it or not, I didn't get much sleep last night, beings how you had what had to be the entire school in your room last night."  
  
I froze. Oh god! He couldn't have heard me, could he? I started to panic.  
  
"How DARE you listen in on our private conversations!" I shrieked.  
  
"Oh please like anything you guys were saying could hold my interest. I went to work out after almost puking over your extolling of the many virtues of Kurama. I got back in time to hear the tail end of some commotion involving slavery, and then it was blessedly quite so I could finally get some sleep!"  
  
I breathed a mental sigh of relief, and then said, "You know, I think that's the longest I've ever heard you talk."  
  
He shook his head and then strode away.  
  
"Well," some senior girl said, "Now that the mini-drama is over, may be we can get down to archery?"  
  
I looked sheepish and nodded.  
  
"All right then, my name is Kira, and right now I'm going to assess your skill levels. So shoot a full quiver at the target when I give the command. Anybody who needs instruction on stance or stringing, or anything like that, please ask me. As for everyone else bows and quivers are against the wall, have at it."  
  
Only one girl had to ask for instruction, and she was the one who started all the trouble. You see, I had taken the target farthest toward the center of the room, and hence Kendo practice. Not so I could watch Hiei get all sweaty and take off his shirt mind you. Although....  
  
Anyway, it was so I wouldn't be distracted by the other archers, and the last available space for the girl was at the target next to me. So when beginner girl starts shooting wildly I'm a little concerned. What happened next threw me for a loop. Somehow, and it should be practically impossible, so I'm not sure what happened, even though the girl was facing forward, her arrow flew to the side, and narrowly missed me. As I followed the arrows path I winced, it had also narrowly missed hitting Hiei, and he was not looking happy as he came over. I wouldn't' want to be in the beginner's shoes right now.  
  
Hey! What's he stopping in front of me for?! Something's horribly wrong here...  
  
"Stupid ningen!" he yelled, "You almost shot me!"  
  
"First of all, what the hell does ningen mean!?! You keep calling me one and I want to know what it means damn it! Second, Sherlock, my quiver is missing three arrows, and there are three arrows in my target. So you see, all my arrows are accounted for and I couldn't have shot at you. Besides, if I had meant to shoot you I wouldn't have missed, you STUPID, ARROGANT...." I walked away muttering derogatory remarks about him.  
  
I figured I better stop this travesty of archery from occurring again, so I went to find Kira and report the incident. I finally found her correcting some girl's stance.  
  
"AHEM."  
  
After a minute, she walked away from the girl, and asked, "What is it you need?"  
  
"I hate to be the one to point this out, but the girl next to me is a menace to society. She almost shot me and the Kendo instructor with the same arrow!"  
  
"I know, but she's already been kicked out of judo. She broke someone's arm. On ACCIDENT."  
  
"Might I suggest you put her in Kendo? They practice with little wooden sticks. How much damage could she do with a little wooden stick?" Oh I knew how much damage, all right. I still had bruises from my Kendo class earlier in the week, but I was hoping Kira wouldn't'. No such luck."  
  
"Are you kidding?! She broke someone's arm. With her bare hands! She's dangerous!"  
  
"So you give her a pointy projectile weapon with the potential to kill, in lieu of a wooden stick." I paused, "Do humanity a favor and put her in Kendo."  
  
"I suppose you've got a point," she said thoughtfully, "All right, I'll see to it."  
  
Then she walked away, and as soon as her back was turned I did my patented happy dance. I know what you're thinking, but the almost obscene amount of joy I'm feeling has nothing to do with that fact that I'm inflicting that walking disaster on Hiei. Well....okay...maybe just a little. That arrogant condescending bastard deserves what he gets.  
  
Well, since I refused to talk to, or even acknowledge Hiei's existence, all day long, classes were relatively boring. The only entertaining portions of the day involved the guys. It was fun watching them carry books too and from classes and get our lunches. Yukina even went so far as to make Sesshoumaru feed her. Not something that appeals to me, but ehh, to each her own, right?  
  
After classes we put the guys to work again. Kuwabara and Sesshoumaru were in the laundry room. Kikyo had sent Kuwabara there with her presorted laundry, carefully written, child proof instructions, and instructions not to return until her laundry was all done. Kuwabara was accomplishing his task cheerfully, while driving Sesshoumaru insane with his incessant humming. Sesshoumaru was stationed by the door, wearing his usual scowl and a rather unusual pink frilly apron, while he ironed Yukina's clothes.  
  
Kagura had Kurama organizing her shoes (apparently she has about a million of them) by style and color. Boton was having Yusuke make her a bubble bath to her exact specifications: light to lavender candles, heat the water to 103 degrees, put in three caps full of bubble bath and one cap full of bath salts, then fold a towel and put it at the head of the tub. Apparently it took Yusuke three tries to get it right. Boton was not pleased.  
  
After I had Inuyasha weed my portion of the garden, I made him give me a foot massage. Sango had Miroku polish her weapons, which was unusual, because usually she won't let anyone but herself near her weapons. What was even more amazing was the fact that they were talking. It was the basic get to know you stuff. Birthday, middle name, favorite color, what you do in your spare time, but it was progress. And it was coming around a lot faster than I thought it would.  
  
After that we girls called a meeting. I told them 'the plan,' and we all agreed the guys would need some extra incentive to go through with it. We decided that tomorrow, would be the day 'the plan' went into action, and the next day (Sunday for those of you who have lost track) would be French maid day, during which they would clean all of our dorms until they sparkled, and then we'd all go to dinner and celebrate the end of their slavery, beings how we were letting them go a full five days early. Now we just had to break the news to the guys. So we filed out of our room, fully prepared for the histrionics we might receive.  
  
"All right guys. Provided you have excellent behavior over the next two days, them we'll cut your slavery short and Sunday will be your last day. But don't think this weekend will be easy. On Saturday, we're going shopping. And you're coming with us. You're going to hold our purses, carry our bags, and when we go to the salon, so do you."  
  
The guys looked nervous.  
  
"What exactly does this 'going to the salon' entail? Do we just sit and watch you guys get your nails done or what?" Miroku asked.  
  
"Oh no, that would be too easy. We get our nails done; you get your nails done. We get a facial, you get a facial. We get a haircut...well you get the picture."  
  
He sighed, "I thought as much."  
  
"Then on Sunday, you get to wear your French maid costumes and clean our dorms until they're spic and span. However, afterwards, we girls are going to treat you to dinner to celebrate your new freedom."  
  
The guys huddled and appeared to be heatedly debating something. We just looked at each other amusedly. The boys broke their huddle, and Sesshoumaru declared, "We accept your terms."  
  
"That's nice, but no wasn't an option." I said.  
  
"All right now, we'd better get some sleep. We've got a long day tomorrow," Boton said cheerfully.  
  
All right guys. Next chapter should be up soon since I've already almost finished writing it. It's a long sucker though, so it might take a while to type, and we'll all hope the summer laziness doesn't creep up on me again. Sorry about the extra long archery section, but I couldn't resist. That whole rogue arrow thing actually happened to me in gym class once. I was standing behind this girl, and out of nowhere, her arrow flies behind her and hits me point first in the shoulder. I was lucky there wasn't much force behind it or I would have been a little bit injured. I still haven't figured out how she managed to get that arrow to go backwards. Oh well. Ja ne. 


	10. Chapter 10

Hey guys! Sorry it took so long for me to update, it's a long drawn out story, but for those of you who are suffering righteous indignation about my slow updates, I vacationed, then I packed for college, and in the move I somehow lost my entire chapter, which was almost finished. I looked for it for a while; then I started rewriting it. About three weeks ago I found it under the passenger seat of my car. I have no idea how it got there. I am suspecting the penguins had involvement. Then I finished writing the chapter, and have been typing it when I could between tests, papers, homework, activities, and work. This is an extra long chapter, longer than any of my others. Hence the long wait. I hope you enjoy it!

Next Morning

Nine o'clock found all of us cheerfully going to the commons for breakfast, which was highly unusual, because I am _not_ a morning person. Probably it was the prospect of shopping that made me so uncharacteristically perky. If not, beware, the apocalypse is imminent.

We girls sat down at our table after giving the guys our 'orders'. While we waited, we talked about the day we had planned. The girls who had been in the school before told us about this truly awesome boutique called Megumi that had everything one could possibly want. We all agreed to go there, and I told them for the third time that, yes, our salon appointment was at four, and no I couldn't move it back because the salon had appointments them and we would have them booked solid all by ourselves.

The guys came back with out food just then, and we gave up on talking about shopping. Sango got into a heated debate with Inuyasha on the best approach to Kendo. Sango was advocating strategy, while Inuyasha maintained that brute force would win a match every time. Kagura had enlisted Sesshoumaru's help with a problem on her Trig homework that she couldn't get. Yusuke and Kuwabara were insulting each other's fighting, and Boton and Kurama were arguing over the best judo hold, with Miroku putting in his opinion on the matter every once in a while. Apparently everybody had either judo or kendo today, except for Kikyo and I, who were in Miko Studies. When I asked her about it she explained that usually only Judo and Kendo courses were held on Saturdays, but that this was the only time available when Miko Studies could be taught.

Of course this led to me asking about the class. She told me that it was more of a hands on thing; she couldn't really explain it outside of class, but there were only two other students beside me in the class.

Then we started talking about out other classes, and quickly immersed ourselves in the finer points of archery. Kikyo preferred a different grip than I did. It was then that I really took a good look at Kikyo.

"Oh man! You're the chick that took first at the national high school archery competition last year. I was so envious of you. I only managed to take sixth.

Kikyo laughed, "Well I am older than you. It's quite an accomplishment to get sixth at your age."

"Yeah, Aunt Myo was so proud of you," Sango put in.

"Says the girl who took second in freestyle weapons, and third in the kendo portions of the competition," I teased.

"Yeah, that was some celebratory dinner. Lots of oden!"

"And pocky!" I paused, "Man now I miss my mom."

"Yeah me too, we'll call auntie tonight when we get home."

"Deal!"

Bell Rings

When Kikyo and I got to class, she explained that she'd given the other two students a special assignment, so it would be just the two of us today. Then she gave me a brief history of mikos, and jumped right into the lesson.

"The first thing we have to do is determine your color. You see, your color will tell us what abilities you will be strongest in. There is only one miko of any color at a time, which probably explains why there are so few of us.

Some colors are more common than others. For example, the yellow miko, or healer, is born almost every generation, while you might not see a white miko for a millennium. The last known white miko was the legendary Midoriko.

To find your color you must meditate until you've reached your state of inner peace, and look inside yourself. You should see a core of power. Whatever color miko you are manifests in your spiritual energy."

Because it was my first time meditating, Kikyo talked me through it. After the first few minutes time flew by, and when I finally opened my eyes I would have sworn it's only been about twenty minutes rather than the full hour and a half that had passed. Kikyo was very surprised when I told her my color was midnight blue.

"Well this is unusual."

"What do you mean? Did I do something wrong?"

"No, no. It's just, most people don't find their color on the first try, and dark colors are rare. It's usually pastel colors, you know, pale pink, pale purple...pale blue. In fact, there hasn't been a blue miko in 400 hundred years, but I don't think there's ever been a miko of dark blue. I have to discuss this with Mistress Kaede. Blue mikos are always troublesome to train. They don't have a specified set of powers. They're wild cards. Because of this I have to start training you in everything and see what you have an aptitude for. You should think about taking extra lessons with me."

Bell Rings

"All right, for homework, you are supposed to meditate every night and focus on compressing your power. Every miko sees her power differently, but however you see it, you need to make sure that there are no tendrils or loose bits floating around. Trust me I'll know if you haven't been doing your homework. Remind me to give you a list of miko colors and powers, and then you can tell me which powers feel right to you. Oh, and I meant it about those lessons with me. Think about it and let me know okay? But for now...let's blow this pop stand and shop till we drop!" she said, linking arm with mine as we walked to meet with the others.

20 minutes later

Toe tapping I asked, "WHERE is Inuyasha?? He had better not be skipping out on us! As it is there is going to be a penalty for all of you boys because of this delay."

Kikyo sidled up to me and whispered questioningly, "There is?"

"Oh yes," I replied not bothering to whisper, "Nobody, and I mean NOBODY, gets between me and shopping, for any reason beside death, unless of course, torture, maiming, or disease is involved. Now you guys better hurry and find Inuyasha, because for each minute you're gone, I'm adding an hour of time to your punishment."

"And what exactly would that punishment be? I don't think anything you do to us could be worse than slavery." Sesshoumaru said drolly.

"Why, I'm going to make you watch romance movies with us. And if you don't get a move on, then you'll continue to watch them for a looong, because the clock is ticking...."

The guys' eyes widened; then Sesshoumaru quickly took control.

"Miroku you check his rooms, Yusuke you check the square. Kurama, you've got the class rooms. I'll take the dojo and the commons. Kuwabara you look through the halls in this building. Then we meet back here as soon as possible and hope that either someone found him or he got here on his own."

Then they ran out, and I mean _ran_. I'll admit that I'm not a big fan of chick flicks, but geez, they're not that bad.

Five minutes later the guys skidded into the room breathless and noticeably lacking Inuyasha.

"Is he back yet?" they panted.

"Ermm, no."

"Ima kill him!" Yusuke growled.

Just then, with his usual perfect timing, Inuyasha strolled casually into the room slurping Ramen, "Hey guys. Sorry I'm late."

Then he noticed the scene before him. On one side of the room, stood a group of girls, arms crossed, feet tapping impatiently, several thinking of ways to torture Inuyasha, and in general, looking _very_ annoyed.

On the other side of the room a group of guys glared at him, hands fisted at their sides, some even growling, while the group as a whole gave off an aura of extreme malevolence.

Inuyasha looked panicked and swallowed his mouthful of Ramen hard. Of course this brought attention to the fact that he had Ramen in the first place.

Kurama, though normally a calm, dignified person, looked ready to throttle Sesshoumaru when he said, "It was your job to check the commons. Why, exactly, is it that Inuyasha returns with ramen, yet you returned empty handed?"

"It is inexplicable. Knowing Inuyasha's predilection for Ramen the commons was the first place I looked. He was nowhere to be found."

"Naw, I just got out of a meeting with Kaede. Baba apparently took offense when I called her 'old hag'. I have detention all next week. Then I stopped and got some Ramen for the trip and came here straight away."

"See, he wasn't skipping out, he couldn't help not being here," Yusuke interjected, "You can't possibly hold us to that punishment."

"What reasons did I give that would result in non-punishment?"

"Death, torture, disease, or maiming," Yusuke replied resignedly.

"Unfortunately for you guys I don't see Kaede indulging herself in any of those venerable pursuits. So the punishment stands."

"But...listening to her _was_ torture." Inuyasha whined.

I considered it for a minute, mostly to give the boys false hope because I was still feeling a little vengeful about the delay. Then I said, "Nope, not acceptable. On the bright side though, you only have to watch..." I looked at my watch, "Oooo, eight hours of chick flicks. Soo much fun to go around."

The guys all turned and glared at Inuyasha.

"What! I couldn't help it!"

"AHEM! So who's driving?" Yukina asked.

"Ooo Ooo," I said waving my hand in the air like a second grader; bouncing around in my seat.

"No!" Sango said vehemently

"But..."

"NO! Remember what I said? NEVER AGAIN!"

I pouted, but Sango ignored me and said, "I can drive, but we're probably going to need three cars."

"I can drive too," Yukina said, "But my car's only a two seater."

I was still pouting. Sesshoumaru saw this and sighed, "I'm probably going to regret this, but Kagome can drive my car," then he turned to me, "One scratch and I won't be held accountable for my actions," he said as he dangled car keys from his index finger.

I snatched them, "Deal!" I exclaimed happily.

Sango's eyes widened, "Girls, by all that's sacred, run for my car!"

Boton had the presence of mind to drag Kurama behind her as she ran. At the other girls' inquiring looks when they reached the car Boton explained, "I didn't want to have to break in a new boyfriend, and from what Sango's told me about Kagome's driving..." she trailed off leaving the girls to draw their own conclusions.

Everyone shrugged. Then Sango said, "C'mon I want to be well ahead of Kagome when she gets behind the wheel. I only hope Yukina waits until after Kags leaves the lot."

General POV

The ride to the mall was relatively uneventful, and everybody started to go inside to wait for the others, but Sango held up a hand and said, "Stay. This should be interesting. Well worth a few minutes wait."

"But Kagome has to be almost ten minutes behind us."

"I know. I give her two minutes. Tops."

Just then a car rounded the turn into the parking lot on two wheels and screeched to a halt in a parking spot with mere millimeters between its bumper and that of the car in the opposite spot. Kagome exited right away, skipping away from the car towards the girls.

"I think I've gotten better Sango! Don't you think?"

"Yeah, you've added another millimeter between you and the parked car. But you're still not driving."

Sesshoumaru was the second one to emerge from the contraption of death most commonly known as a car. He circled the car and murmured, "Amazing. Not a scratch to be found! No missing hubcaps, no dents, no flat tires...absolutely amazing."

Inuyasha exited next, "Woohoo! Kags, you're my kind of driver. That was great! We're definitely doing it again."

Yusuke emerged holding his stomach; then he dropped a suspicious smelling bag into the garbage. "Did I mention that I get car sick?" he groaned, staggering away.

At that point everybody's eyes were locked on the car, waiting for Miroku to exit...and we got nothin'.

We all edged closer to the car, each of us hoping we wouldn't see the contents of Miroku's stomach on display. Fortunately we weren't disappointed, but the sight we were greeted with was almost as disturbing. Miroku, still securely buckled into the car, had one hand clutching the door handle in a death grip, and the other hand covering his eyes. His whimpers were broken only by the occasional panicked cry of, "We're going to die! We're all going to die!"

Someone cleared their throat loudly, and Miroku peeked between his fingers to see all of us staring at him. He immediately assumed a nonchalant pose, but unfortunately...

"Guys! A little help here! I seem to be stuck to the door..."

We finally detached Miroku from the door just as Yukina showed up.

"Perfect timing!" Kagome squealed, "We were just getting ready to go in and eat." Then she did a little dance, "...Pizza, pizza, pizza!"

"We just had pizza the other night, don't you want something else?"

Kagome looked scandalized, "You blaspheme!" she hissed.

Everybody just looked at her.

"Well I'm getting Ramen," Inuyasha insisted stubbornly.

"And you guys think I'm bad," Kagome said indignantly.

Sango sighed, "We'll just have to push some tables together. Everybody get what you want and meet there.

After we got out food we chatted amicably for quite a while, then one of the guys asked what was on the itinerary. All the girls looked at each other.

"We hadn't really discussed it. The salon is reserved for four o'clock, which gives us...two and a half hours."

"That's not a lot of time, we'll have to coordinate this well. What do we need to do?"

"Oh, well, I need to stop at the anime store."

"And I need to pick up some CDs."

"I could use a new video game..."

The guys were starting to perk up. This was the stuff they normally did! If all they had to do was hold a few extra bags, than this was going to be a piece of cake. Of course, then their hopes were dashed.

"I need to pick up a dress for tomorrow night," Sango said

"And I need some new shoes," Kagura put in, like she didn't already own a million pairs.

"I could use some earrings or a bracelet or something."

"Ooo, and a new purse."

"Because Sango shows no signs of relenting in her pursuit of my physical fitness, I'm going to need the appropriate clothes," Kagome grumbled.

"Okay," Kikyo said, taking charge, "Anyone who needs to go to another store just meets the rest of us at Megumi when they're done."

Kagome's POV

We had to put out collective foot down when all the guys tried to follow Sango, Boton, and I rather than go to Megumi with the other girls. After a small huddle, we announced to the boys that all guys were required to go to Megumi with the rest of the girls.

The boys just stared at our retreating backs for a few seconds before realizing that they really didn't have a choice in the matter and trailing reluctantly after the girls headed for Megumi.

General POV

Hiei stalked through the mall. Somebody was going to pay. Yukina was acting decidedly unYukina like. It had been bad enough when she got that baka for a boyfriend, but now she was asking favors and making demands. It had to stop! Especially since he couldn't refuse her anything.

"I bet it was that little ningen girl," he thought, "The one with the mouth. She's got to be a bad influence on Yukina."

In fact may be it was time to have a little chat with Yukina about choosing her friends wisely. She'd be at Megumi. She was always at Megumi when she was at the mall.

30 minutes later-At Megumi

As soon as we entered the store we were pulled aside by the other girls. They were proposing we put on a little fashion show for the guys. Kikyo, Kagura, and Yukina were going to go first so the rest of us would have time to pick out our dresses.

We took off immediately because, after all, we didn't have much time. The other girls got the guys seated in front of the entrance to the dressing room and proceeded to start the show.

Kikyo glided out in a classy floor length white strapless sheath. The color really complemented her skin tone and brought out her eyes. Of course, Inuyasha's eyes were almost brought right out of his head when he noticed the that the dress was slit all the way up to the hip on one side, so that when Kikyo moved you caught a glimpse of long shapely leg clad in high heels that laced up the calve.

Kagura slinked out in the classic little black dress, and boy, the neckline on that thing rendered even the dignified Sesshoumaru incapable of any form of articulation beyond a squeak.

Yukina flounced out in a spaghetti strap dress that swirled mid-thigh. It started out foam green at the neckline and gradually darkened until it hit hunter green at the hem. It was a quintessentially sweet but sexy dress that personified Yukina, and boy did those guys appreciate the intricacies of shopping. Well, that's one possible explanation anyway. I can think of another that's more likely, if you know what I mean.

Sango had chosen a sassy red halter dress that ended about mid-thigh. Its simple lines really suited her slender figure, but what really made the outfit go that extra mile were the strappy, red high heeled sandals that made her legs look miles long. You could tell that all the guys approved of the outfit, but Miroku was drooling over it. I kicked him in the shin to remind him to behave.

Boton walked out in a hot pink, asymmetrical dress. Its ruffly hem started high on her left thigh and ended at her right knee. It was cute and fun, and definitely something I could see Boton picking out.

Personally, I had decided to go for shock factor. My dress managed to cover everything and _still_ be really revealing. It consisted of three pieces: a tube top and an itty bitty skirt that barely covered my butt, in a dark blue stretchy material that molded to my body like a second skin. Overtop of which I wore a floor length see-through mesh coverup that was slit up to the knee on both sides, had a high neck, and long sleeves and lots of sparkly sakura flowers embroidered on it.

When I walked out several jaws dropped and Kagura, with her J-loesque neckline, came up and congratulated me on 'showing those guys just what I was made of.' Then Sango sidled up to me and told me I had excellent timing. When I looked mystified she simply pointed Yukina's way.

Now that I was focused on Yukina I could hear her say to a guy with his back turned to me, "Well how as I supposed to know that you needed the car today?"

Not that the fact that I couldn't see his face mattered. I'd know that hair anywhere. Yukina was talking to Hiei, but why? Don't tell me I have competition! And from Yukina! She knows I like him! And she has a boyfriend!

Wait. I don't like Hiei! Do I? I took a quick mental inventory of the situation, drooling in said male's presence, check; extreme possessiveness and jealousy, check; an insatiable desire to know more about him, check. Okay. It's official. I put up a valiant fight, but I am indeed crushing on Hiei. Now, what to do about the current situation...

'Oh well, subtlety never was my style anyway,' I thought as I stalked over to them, with my hands on my hips, and demanded, "Just _what_ is going on here?! Are you harassing my friends now too?"

Hiei's POV

I'd walked in intending to talk some sense into Yukina, but somehow the discussion got all twisted around, and Yukina made it seem like my fault that she'd taken my car without asking. Then of course the mouth had to barg into the conversation. I started to turn around to tell her it was none of her business...   
  
Kagome's POV

Yukina just looked at me for a second before she said, "Kagome, Hiei's my brother."

I blinked, then gaped, and looked back and forth between them before I managed to sputter, "But you don't look anything alike!"

"We're only half siblings."

"Ohh..."

Hiei's POV

My train of thought suddenly broke off as I was confronted by an angry mouth in clad in two tiny scraps of cloth. All brain function ceased for several moments. I was vaguely aware of the conversation between Yukina and the ningen in the background, but I was still shell shocked. When I realized that the conversation had gotten too personal for my liking, I realized I had to say something, and I fell back on habit. I was rude. I said something like 'butt out,' it was probably just as well if I alienated her. I was becoming entirely too absorbed with her, and nobody, even an annoying ningen who was entirely too mouthy, deserved to be saddled with the likes of me.

"Kagome's POV

"Onna, what are you doing interfering in my family business."

"Well excuse me for being curious!"

"I will not."

Yukina turned to her brother, glared, and said, "Oh yes you will! That's my friend and you will treat her courteously at all times. If I hear otherwise from anybody, you _will_ regret it."

The only physical response that betrayed Hiei's surprise was his slow blink. Then he reluctantly turned to me and said grudgingly, "No pardon is necessary because no offense was given."

I looked at him in surprise. "All right..." I said warily, and then I turned to leave, but Yukina grabbed my arm and pulled me back, "Erm Kagome, because Yusuke invited Keiko up for the dinner, we had an odd number of people and I invited Hiei to even things out. I just thought you should know, beings how he'd be your escort," she said quickly before scurrying off.

I just stared after her in shock for a minute then I exclaimed, "What!" thus drawing the attention of the entire store towards me. Hiei wasn't looking very pleased about the situation, but he didn't say anything, probably because of Yukina's threat.

To be honest, I wasn't sure whether I should thank Yukina, or exact my revenge. Hence I decided to hold off on any action until I had determined exactly what Yukina's motivations were, and whether or not this would be beneficial to my wooing of Hiei

I did, however, manage to lock a questioning gaze on Yukina when I got back to the dressing room. She mouthed 'Later." in reply. I shrugged and mouthed back, "Your room?" She nodded.

While this silent communication had been going on, the other girls had hatched a few plots of their own. Apparently they had decided that we were being too easy on the guys and they needed to kick it up a notch. Yukina and I looked at each other mystified, and decided that we should just watch the others go to it.

Kikyo and Kagura teamed up on Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru. They had both picked out and put on outfits that they knew were, shall we say, unflattering, and then proceeded to exclaim things like, "Oh my god, this dress makes me look _fat_," and "My butt looks HUGE!" Then they turned to the guys and asked in unison, "Doesn't it?"

Inuyasha and Sesshoumaru looked at each other with twin expressions of male terror; then they gulped, and turned back to the girls. Inuyasha with his usual eloquence said, "Feh."

This gave Kikyo all the ammunition she needed. "You DO think I look fat!" she wailed. Then she whirled around, her face buried in her hands and her shoulders shaking.

Sesshoumau took more time with his answer, trying to avoid catastrophe, "Kagura, you look beautiful no matter what you wear."

Inside Kagura was melting; however outside she remained stone-faced, and said, "That's not what I asked Sesshoumaru. Does this skirt make my butt look big or not?"

Sess must believe that honesty is the best policy, because he said that Kagura 'might perhaps find another outfit that suited her figure better.' Kagura must have decided that she like his answer because she was leading him through the clothes racks by the hand, smiling. Inuyasha was faring less well with Kikyo. He was still trying to 'calm her down.' I suspect she was actually laughing her ass off.

I looked over to see what Sango was doing and my eyes widened. Apparently she had decided to torture Miroku using his particular weakness. He was positioned in the chair in front of a mirror, and Sango was between the two, using the mirror. Currently she was bent over with her arms pressing her breasts together. Miroku was sweating, his eyes darting back and forth between the image in the mirror and the posterior that was mere feet away from his face. Then, abruptly, she stood up, turned to the side, stuck her chest out, and studied the image in the mirror for a minute. Then she turned to Miroku, repeated her previous actions, and asked, "Does this top make me look too busty?"

"No," he squeaked; then he cleared his throat and said normally, "Not at all. Actually it's quite flattering."

Sango looked surprised at Miroku's restraint, and tried tempting him with his favorite body part. "What about my butt?" she asked, practically waving it in his face, "Do these pants do good things for it?"

Miroku almost reached out, but then he shook his head and said, "Certainly. It looks very nice."

Sango looked dumbfounded, but I was so proud. My little lecher has gone and turned into a decent person. Awww. Now I'm all misty eyed, for a few seconds anyway. No time for tears, baby, cuz it's time to play dress up. And such nice life sized dolls we have. This is going to be fun.

First we buried the guys in piles of clothes, not a few of which were a little...off. Picture Sess in plaid pants; Yusuke in a pink shirt with ruffles; Kurama in the leather vest backfired, he somehow managed to pull it off, and be H-O-T-T hot. Grrowl. I saw Boton grab that vest and scurry off to the check out line. Anyway, you get the picture. Eventually we outfitted the guys to our satisfaction.

I had managed to preppify, Yusuke's normal punk look. He was wearing a fine knit white sweater that clung to his shoulders and chest, and then flowed down to a pair of black jeans that fit nicely around his hips. This was topped off with a black leather jacket slung over his shoulder. Verrrry Nice. Keiko's going to have a heart attack.

Kuwabara actually didn't look half bad in the navy pants and pale blue shirt that Yukina had put him in. Now if only we could convince him to do something about his hair when we get to the salon...

Inuyasha was wearing black pants with a red button up shirt rolled slightly at the sleeves. He was actually managing to look like something other than a rude jerk, but hey I might be just a tad biased about the jerk thing.

Sango must have been going for darkly sensual or something, because Miroku was wearing a long sleeved silk shirt that was so dark of a purple it appeared to be black, except when the light hit it right, paired with a pair of black leather pants. This combined with his little ponytail, and the hoops in his ear made Miroku look bad, in an entirely good way. It suited him well.

Sesshoumaru and Kurama were standing side by side looking very elegant, and very, very untouchable. Sesshoumaru was tasty in white slacks topped by a long sleeved golden yellow silk shirt. Kurama was wearing a pale pink shirt with charcoal pants. Gotta love a man secure enough with himself to wear pink.

You put all those good looking guys together and it could be hazardous. 'Warning, do not place near females. Possible side effects include swooning, stalking, and cat fights.'

After everybody paid for their purchases and, to further prove my point, there was a little tussle among the sales girls over who would ring up the guys, we only had forty five minutes before we had to be at the salon.

As we were trying to decide what to do with the time, Miroku had the audacity to suggest that the girls go lingerie shopping. The girls looked at each other exasperatedly, but several of the guys showed enthusiasm for the idea. Sango offered, "We girls will try on lingerie," at this point the whole group was in uproar, the guys were all showing various forms of excitement, except for Yusuke who was muttering something about Keiko killing him, and the girls were protesting vigorously. Sango held up a hand and loudly enough to get everyone's attention said, "HOWEVER." As soon as the clamor died down she continued, "However, how many of you are willing to do the same? That would be the requirement."

The other guys' eyes widened and they vigorously shook their heads no, but Miroku appeared to actually be considering it! I went to smack him, but Sango stopped me.

"No. It'll be worth it as long as he follows through with his part of the bargain."

I looked at her like she was crazy, but said, "All right, if you're sure..." and when I walked past Miroku I muttered, "Don't screw this up."

General POV

Hiei was walking through the mall on his way to the food court, when suddenly he stopped, retraced his steps and looked into a lingerie store. Yes, that was indeed a man in women's lingerie reflecting back at him through the big mirror at the back of the store. In fact, he was thinking that the guys looked awful familiar, when he saw Sango come up and smack the guy on the ass with a plastic hanger. The guys turned to see Sango dangling a hot pick corset in front of him, but Hiei was too busy being shocked to notice. That was Miroku! He rapidly decided that Yukina would no longer associate with these people, and he would tell her so as soon as possible.

Kagome's POV

After Miroku and Sango left there was a rather heated discussion among us remaining girls. We were torn between two objectives: torture the boys some more, or let them go do their own ting so we could have some girl time. Girl time won out so while we strolled through the jewelry section of Megumi, the boys scurried off to sporting good stores, the anime shop, the arcade, and, in Inuyasha's case, the food court, all in a desperate attempt to 'reclaim their masculinity.'

We girls made some interesting finds. Kagura got a new pair of earring, I swear the girl is shopping happy, and I found a really awesome bracelet. It was made of intricately carved onyx beads interspersed with small irregular chunks of blue topaz, but alas the time approached when we'd agreed to meet up with the other's at the food court.

The guys were already there when we arrived. Personally I was glad. I really didn't want to have to chase anybody down. Now where were Sango and Miroku? I started looking around for them when suddenly my concentration was broken by Inuyasha's random laughter. I looked over towards him in annoyance only to discover Sango and Miroku approaching from that direction. Sango was carrying a Victoria's Secret bag, and Miroku was walking in an...interesting...fashion, and grumbling about something I couldn't quite make out, though it was getting clearer as they got closer.

"...thong. Don't know how women do it."

"Actually, once you get used to them, thongs aren't that bad. They're really pretty comfortable." I said offhandedly.

The guys all looked at me like I was insane.

"What! You guys would have to experience it to understand."

And still I got the looks along with several unenthusiastic, "No thanks," in reply. I sighed and said, "C'mon, let's go, our appointments in five minutes."

Cut to the Salon

Sesshoumaru, Kurama, and even Kuwabara were okay with the whole salon thing. Not necessarily happy about it, but okay with it. So they just walked casually in and took their seats. Miroku walked in casually as well, but then he just as casually ducked in to the waiting room and hid his face behind a magazine. Kikyo had to drag Inuyasha in by his ear, and Yusuke we couldn't get further than the door beings how he was currently clinging to it with a death grip.

Of course chaos broke loose when Kikyo released Inuyasha's ear and he tried to escape. The cosmetologists, and I call them that instead of beauticians because I now have a profound respect for them, quickly took care of the situation. One was sneaking up on Yusuke with toe separators and nail clippers in hand. Two were after Miroku, one with a whrrring nail buffer in hand; the other with a nail file. Miroku peeked out from behind Cosmo and sighed, then put down the magazine, held his hands up in the air, and said, "All right, I surrender. Do with me what you will."

The cosmetologists lead Miroku back to the main room, just in time for him to witness the 'main event'. A whole hoard of the salon workers, including the receptionists and a janitor, had Inuyasha backed into a corner and were strapping him down to a chair while another approached with a bowl of pink goop.

"No! No! Anything but that!" he wailed whilst struggling against the bonds that held him prisoner. When the first bit of goop touched him, he dug his fingernails into the arms of the chair, leaving claw marks in the wood.

Sesshoumaru and Kurama had facial masks on, and were leaning back totally relaxed as they got pedicures. Kuwabara was just now starting to get his hair cut, as it had taken more than five minutes for the lady working on him just to wash all the goop out of his hair. Miroku was getting a manicure. Yusuke was still clinging to the door, but the girl who went after him had finally gotten his shoe off and was trying to get the toe separators on his flailing feet.

General POV

After the first harrowing experience of the day, Hiei quickly went to the food court, ate even faster, and left at practically a run in hopes of avoiding any more sights that no man should be subjected too, but it was a fruitless endeavor, because as he passed the salon on the way out mere feet from freedom, he caught a glimpse of something inside; he reluctantly, almost involuntarily slowed his pace, turned around walked back to the display window, and peered inside. It wasn't! But it was. Kurama! And Sesshoumaru! Inuyasha, Yusuke, Kuwabara, Miroku, though he wasn't surprised about that after what he'd seen, all sporting facial and toe separators, and several of them looking like they enjoyed it.

"I need to find new associates," he thought automatically shying away from the word friend.

Kagome's POV

After the first few minutes, Inuyasha started to relax, and by the time the lady working on him had finished putting the deep conditioning treatment in Inuyasha's hair, he was practically a puddle in his chair. Of course, just then he caught sight of the next girl coming at him with a green facial mask.

"No! No! Anything but that!"

We all rolled our eyes, but beyond that there wasn't much movement or talking. We girls had promised each other that no matter what the guys pulled we would relax and have a good time. Alas, our salon time was over far too soon. As we left I noticed that everyone looked a little better than they had before they came in. The girls were all more relaxed, and the guys had gotten much needed trims and manicures; the deep-conditioning treatment had done wonders for Inuyasha's hair, but the real miracle was Kuwabara.

Without all the goop making his hair darken to that carroty orange it was actually a pleasant color, much lighter, a little more golden, sort of like marmalade, and it wasn't in the Elvis do, or should I say don't, anymore. In fact it was short enough that he couldn't put it that way anymore even if he wanted to. The moisturizing treatment and facial had somehow managed to soften the harsh lines of his face, and if you put him in the clothes Yukina picked out for him he wouldn't be too bad looking. Of course, we're always surrounded by preternaturally gorgeous guys, so he'll never be considered anything more than average, but at least nobody will wonder who tried to beat him to death with the ugly stick.

"All right guys, let's head home..." Sango said.

"Ah, ah, ah," I interrupted waving my finger in her face, "Now what are you forgetting?"

"Umm..."

"We have a few stops to make before we go home. We have to pick up their 'special outfits' for tomorrow, and then we have to stop at the video store. I think I hear Breakfast at Tiffany's calling my name."

"Oooo, and Steel Magnolias."

"...Sixteen Candles!"

"A Walk to Remember!!!" Yuking squealed.

Everybody winced, but nobody said anything, after all, nobody said the girls had to sit through every movie, just the guys.

"Pretty Woman," Boton sighed.

"Classic."

"Very."

"We have to get popcorn!"

"And chocolate."

"Ice cream!"

"Tissues."

All the girls commiserated on that one.

"Let's go!" Yukina said excitedly.

Sango's POV

So we got the guys' costumes, though we barely made it before closing, because Kagome got stopped by the cops. Again. Then we picked up the movies, and loaded up on food and tissues. When we got back to the school we unloaded the car, and then a couple of us went back to pry Miroku off of the car door, while the others set everything up.

Once the movies started, we were all going pretty strong. The girls were laughing and eating chocolate and popcorn through Pretty Woman and Sixteen Candles, while the guys, well they weren't completely miserable yet, after all we did provide them food, and Pretty Woman did involve hookers, but for the guys it was all downhill from there.

We broke out the ice cream and tissues for Breakfast at Tiffany's and Steel Magnolias. At a particularly sad part you might find Kuwabara sobbing loudly into tissues with Yukina holding his hand. Little sniffles and surreptitious wipes with tissue were the only indication that some of the others were crying, and the guys exhibited frequent eye rolls and the occasional bobbing head as they struggled to stay awake.

It was almost midnight when Yukina broke out A Walk to Remember. Kagome stretched out on the floor and went to sleep. Kikyo and Kagura were hyped up on sugar, trying to do their trig homework in my and Kags room, and Boton dragged Kurama off to the perverts room to 'look at the stars.' I think being around Miroku has corrupted them.

I, on the other hand, well **_I_** was stuck sitting through the damn movie because I didn't want Yuki and Kuwabara making out on our couch, and **_somebody_** needed to make sure that the guys didn't fall asleep. Personally, I thought it should be Kagome's responsibility, but apparently I'm the only one holding that opinion.

I started to nod off, but I jerked back awake when Inuyasha hit the floor with a loud thud. He jumped back up and yelled at Kuwabara, "What was that for!?"

"Yukina went to all the trouble of picking out a movie, and you will stay awake and watch it."

My eyes widened. No more falling asleep for me. Of course, Inuyasha couldn't just leave it alone...

"Well maybe, if your **_girlfriend_**, hadn't picked out such a **_dum_**..."

I smile up at Kuwabara, while tightening my grip on Inuyasha's mouth, "Ignore him, he said nothing."

And I'd really like the furniture to stay intact, I thought to myself.

Inuyasha said something garbled.

"Are you going to behave yourself?" I asked.

He nodded so I took my hand away from his mouth.

"Bitch," he muttered.

I shot him a glare, but resisted the urge to smack him, because that would have started he fight I'd worked so hard to avoid. Brawn wins over brains my ass.

I must have fallen asleep at some point during the movie, because the next thing I knew, I woke up on the floor, disoriented and staring straight into Miroku's sleeping face.

"ARGH!" I yelled in surprise.

Kagome jerked awake, "Damn Sango, I'm trying to sleep here!"

"Pervert!" I screeched, scooting away from Miroku.

"Sango! Geez. He's like three feet away from you, you're both fully clothed, and no body parts are touching. You're totally overreacting. Now I'm going back to sleep, shut up before you wake the others."

Like two seconds later I heard faint snores from Kagome. God that girl goes out like a light. I shivered faintly. It was a little chilly. I carefully looked left and then right. Satisfied that nobody was going to see, I scooted over to Miroku and then snuggled close. By the time I'd drifted off to sleep I'd almost convince myself that the cold was the only reason for snuggling with Miroku. Almost.

General POV

After Sango goes to sleep, Miroku opens an eye, smiles, and then wraps an arm around her, drawing her close, and goes back to sleep.

Next Chapter: Rude wake up call, guys in short skirts armed with toilet brushes, dinner and a surprise, aka the emergence of my heretofore nonexistent plot.

A/N- Megumi is a figment of my imagination, and there is no relationship between my Megumi and any real store. I knew of no Japanese chick flick, and I'm too lazy to research, so we're going with movies from the good ole U.S. of A. Also not mine.


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: Okay, so it's like a teeny portion of what I had originally planned to be chapter 11, but I got the urge to take up the story again and figured you guys deserved an update sooner rather than later, and this was the first viable stopping point I came to. I am a horrible person for just…stopping like that. Please don't hurt me. Also, this section came out kind of…insane. Just giving warning.

Sunday-General POV

Miroku and Sango woke up to a flash of light and the evil laughter of Kagome as she ran away holding a camera.

"Why is she acting so strangely?" Sango asked, turning to Miroku. Then of course, she noticed that she was pressed up against Miroku, and that his arms were around her, and she sprang to her feet.

"Well, umm…I've got er… stuff. To do. And…yeah. I'll just be going now." Then she took off like a bat out of hell.

Miroku scrubbed his hand over his face. "Well that didn't turn out quite like I'd hoped. At least she didn't slap me. Or yell pervert. I'd like to think that's progress." He muttered to himself.

Meanwhile there were two more flashes, this time from the girls' room, followed by a low growl and an 'eep!' Then Kagome streaked out of the room followed closely by Inuyasha, who was threatening maimage if she didn't "Hand over that camera, right now!"

Kikyo stuck her head out of the room, "Kags, when you get that film developed Kagura and I would like copies please."

Inuyasha was chasing Kagome in circles around the couch, "Sure…thing…

Kemosabe," she managed to pant in reply before sinking down to the couch, "Whew. I need to work out more."

Inuyasha grinned and prowled closer, "Give me the film and no one gets hurt."

"Wrong again. Kikyo will be annoyed, to say the least, if anything happens to this film, and I shudder to think what Kagura will do to you."

Inuyasha stopped, frowned, and thought about it for a minute, then scowled, "Fine, but I get the negatives when the film's developed."

"Yeah, yeah. Can I go now. I have more pictures to take."

"Sure. You go torment somebody else for a change."

Kagome crept into the guys' room. Awww. Boton was curled up on Kurama's lap on the window seat. They must have fallen asleep watching the stars. FLASH! Boton blinked a few times. FLASH! Boton blinked some more, "Would you stop that before I go blind?"

"Relax, I'm done in here. Can't believe Yuki and Kuwabara have slept through all this though."

"Speaking of which, why exactly were you taking pictures of us sleeping? No offense, but it's kinda creepy."

"Because you're all just so cute! By the way, did any of you guys see where Yusuke went to sleep?"

"No, why?"

"I haven't been able to find him anywhere and I had such high hopes of getting some good blackmail pictures."

"Dunno. Sorry."

"No problem. I guess I'll just brush my teeth and head down to breakfast."

Kagome went to the bathroom and started brushing her teeth when she caught sight of something behind her in the mirror. She gaped for minute, then spit out her mouthful of toothpaste, rubbed her eyes, and looked again.

There was indeed a leg hanging over the edge of the bathtub. She peered inside, and allowed herself a brief moment to ponder exactly why Yusuke would choose to sleep in the bathtub. It couldn't be comfortable….

Because Yusuke sleeps like a rock, Kagome was able to take her first picture of him, while he was just lying there, and then think about what evil deed she should perform upon him.

Right on time she noticed that his head was directly under the faucet. Excellent. She made sure the camera was ready; then she turned the cold water on full blast; jumped back, and started taking pictures. The real challenge was keeping the camera steady whilst laughing hysterically.

Yusuke went through several emotional stages, and Kagome got them all on film. Fully evident on his face were shock, befuddlement, enlightenment, anger, and finally aggression, which she took as her cue to leave.

Kagome flew out of the bathroom, Yusuke close on her heels. He actually followed her all the way to the commons where the guys present promptly started laughing at him. Yusuke had been so intent on doing her bodily harm that he'd forgotten that he and his pajamas were dripping wet. He growled, "You got something to say to me? Say it!"

The guys stopped laughing. Of course now I noticed the girls' reactions to Yusuke's wet and dripping pajama pants and clinging, slightly transparent wife beater. They were drooling and shattering my brotherly images of him one by one. He'd decided to eat, since he was already down here, and they were flocking around him like rabid geese. Two of them even managed to produce towels from god knows where. Urgh. Didn't they know he has a girlfriend!

Uh oh. Her protective instincts were kicking in. 'Calm yourself, you don't really want to rip out the hair of that hussy draping herself all over Yusuke. You've never even met Keiko. You don't want to get into a fight over someone you've never even met. No siree. What you really want is a banana. A nice, nutritious, nonviolent banana.' She mentally repeated this all the while she was waiting in the lunch line.

After I had gotten my banana I had to pass by Yusuke to get to a table and my fingers itched to pull some hair, until I heard Yusuke muttering, "Keiko's going to kill me! I don't know how she's gong to find out, but she will, and then I'm going to die!"

Then he saw Kagome pass by and mouthed, "HELP!"

Kagome just smiled grimly, now that she could see that Yusuke wasn't a willing participant in this travesty, and Keiko was in no danger of being cuckolded by the hussy her protective instincts receded and she was perfectly content to let Yusuke extricate himself. She had a banana to eat.

She sat down at an empty table and started to eat, but within minutes the table had filled up with some of the more intelligent bishies in the school---for intelligent read nonfanboy—they were talking about some of her pranks and telling jokes and Kagome was having a great time. She hadn't realized how out of place she was feeling in a group where everybody but her had a significant other. So she decided to live it up. She laughed, told jokes, and flirted outrageously. It was over too soon though; beings how Yuki had dragged me off to hiss, "What was up with that! I'm trying to help you get my brother and you're flirting with any single guy in the school!"

"Ohhh. So that was what was up in Megumi's with the whole escort thing."

"Yes! Now explain yourself."

"Relax. I'm not giving up on Hiei. I have a whole plan of action and it's all falling into place, but I could use some of your input. I'll lay it all out for you later. I'd better go. Everybody's starting to head upstairs."

"All right, but if you hurt my brother…"

"Relax. I've no intention of hurting Hiei. Emotionally anyway."

And then we walked off towards the dorms together.

Meanwhile

Hiei watched as Kagome laughed at something one of the guys at her table said. A part of him, that he was determined to deny, screamed, "Mine!" Fortunately the rest of him had more common sense. He watched for a moment more, then scowled and turned away when Kagome touched one of them on the arm.

By ten o'clock everyone was up in our dorm. We girls handed over our tiny scraps of lace trimmed black fabric. The guys scowled but grabbed the outfits and went to change.

The first two out were Kurama and Sesshoumaru. All of us stared in amazement, with their long hair and elegant features, they looked almost pretty. Sure they lacked a few key curves, but other than that. Well frankly, I was a little jealous of them. I snuck a peek at Kikyo and Kagura. They looked a little surprised, but not at all disgruntled by the fact that their boyfriends were prettier girls than they were. Inuyasha and Yusuke bore absolutely no resemblance to girls, and even if they had, the way they were trying to tug their skirts down would have given them away. Kuwabara, well Kuwabara wasn't meant to wear a short skirt. I don't even think Kuwabara was meant to wear shorts.

Disturbing as it was, Miroku was apparently getting really into it, because when he came out he'd made a few additions to the outfit, namely a red wig, stuffed bra, and a feather duster.

Kagura called out, in a lusty voice, "Hey baby! Come to papa!"

"Oh monsieur," Miroku tittered, in a falsetto, while placing his hands over his cheeks, "You're making me blush."

Inuyasha muttered, "Yeah, well you're making me want to throw up." Then he went up to Miroku and smacked him upside the head, "Quit playing around."

"Oh monsieur, allow me to make it up to you." Miroku said, right before he grabbed Inuyasha, dipped him low, and kissed him.

Everybody gaped in surprise. Well almost everybody. Kagome had clapped her hands over her eyes and was screaming, "My eyes, my eyes! Make it stop!" while Sango had muttered something about Miroku being a pervert even when he was a girl.

As soon as Inuyasha's mouth was unoccupied he began screaming, "Fuck Miroku! What the hell did you think you were doing, you asshole!" Along with various other profanities, because he was INUYASHA and he'd just been kissed by another guy. A happy camper he was not.

After the clamor died down Kagome grabbed a list, stood up, and announced, "Well now that my eyes have ceased malfunctioning and I'm no longer having delusions that there are transvestite homosexuals everywhere, you guys can pick your cleaning assignments and cleaning supplies."

We then pulled out a hat, and each guy picked their assignment. When Miroku announced that he'd gotten our bedrooms, Sango knocked him out and replaced his piece of paper. Yusuke got the short end of the stick too, getting stuck cleaning the bathrooms. They felt sort of sorry for him, but that didn't stop the girls from having some fun with it. So when Yusuke started toward the door, Kagome called him back

"Not so fast Yusuke, I forgot to give you something." He headed back towards the girls and she solemnly handed over an old toothbrush. "For the grout, and don't forget to get the hair out of the drains. Happy cleaning guys."

And then, with much grumbling, they dispersed. The girls on the other hand, decided to chill in front of the television munching on left over food from the other night. Two hours later loud noises next door broke through their television induced coma.

"It's about time they made it up here," somebody said; then they turned their attention back to the television.

"Aaron can't break up with Lisa for Camille!"

"She's such a slut."

"I know! Why can't he see that?"

"It's 'cuz he's thinking with his…"

"Yukina!"

"What! It's true!"

They went on insulting the soap opera's characters' intelligence for about half an hour before the guys finally made it to the room. Miroku walked around for a few minutes polishing furniture and emptying trash.

"All right ladies, I'm going to vacuum now, so bare with me."

Then he bent over to plug in the vacuum and they saw one of the most horrifying sights of their lives.

"Miroku! Those aren't boxers!"

"I know. The boxers didn't go with this skirt. By the way, you were right Kagome. Thongs _are_ comfortable."

"By all that's holy man, don't bend, squat! Squat I tell you!"

"No. You put me in this skirt you deal with the consequences."

And with that he went back to work.

"Hmph. Fine. It's time Yukina and I had a little chat anyway, but first I have to tinkle." Kagome said as she got up and walked to the bathroom door, pointedly ignoring the various people mouthing the work 'tinkle'.

She could hear clacking sounds inside the bathroom, but she didn't think much of it. She opened the door, and started to say, 'Yusuke, I need to use the bathroom.' But only got as far as, "Yus…uke." Before gaping like a landed fish.

Picture, if you will two guys in drag. Now add to that picture a toilet brush and a plunger, and have them commence dueling. Yeah, Kagome was shocked too. She had only gaped for a few seconds when Kuwabara dodged Yusuke's thrust and she got it full in the face. She was shocked for a full three seconds before the realization hit her.

She had just been hit In The Head, with a TOILETBRUSH! Inside her head she was doing the girly thing, running in circles, flapping her hands and screaming 'EEEEWWWW!" On the outside she was snarling, "You better run Yusuke!"

And boy did he ever. Of course I had no intention of actually trying to catch him. Too much work. I kicked Kuwabara out of the bathroom so I could pee and scrub the first few layers of skin off my face, then I grabbed Yukina and dragged her into Yusukes's room. He had to come back sometime, after all, and I wanted to be waiting.

Yukina plopped down onto a bed, "So spill, exactly what is your plan to get Hiei?"

"All right. See I've been thinking. Since Hiei seems a little…skittish, rather than come right out and state my interest directly, I'm going to ease him into it.

"Explain to me how flirting with half the available guys in the school fits into your plan."

"Well that's easy. Since I'm easing him into it, I've got to do something to make sure he doesn't start looking at me as just a friend. I need something to show him I'm desirable. Plus jealously might speed things along a bit. I'm a bit impatient you see…"

"Well I hope your plan works. Hiei needs someone he can depend on to be there for him. He…didn't have a great childhood. We didn't grow up together, and it's not my place to tell you more. But I came to this school searching for my half brother; I had heard rumors that he could be here. He knew the whole time I was his sister, but he didn't tell me, because he thought I would be disappointed that he was my brother.

"I see. You've given me some things to think about."

"Just, don't toy with him. I don't think he could take rejection, in any form. And if you hurt him, I'll have to hurt you."

Just then there was a knock on the door and Sango stuck her head in, "All right girls. Inspection, ho!"

"We're coming."


	12. Chapter 12

A/N: I feel bad cuz I told a couple people I'd update on Tuesday…but I got sidetracked. On the bright side I have new nephew. squeals He's a cutie pie he is. I'm also re-editing my other chapters. Got two done so far. It's so pretty without all those format anomalies. Also I have a bit of a rant at the end. Feel free to skip it. And on with the chapter (which still isn't all I had planned for my original chapter 11, that chapter was gonna be frickin huge, but hopefully next chapter will finish it up.) If you haven't read chapter eleven I suggest you do so. Otherwise this won't make much sense.

* * *

Chapter 12

The guys collapsed on the floor exhausted. Three straight hours of cleaning; they hadn't even stopped for lunch. The girls were out inspecting their work, but if they were under the impression that anything less than an act of god would get the guys up now, they were sadly mistaken.

Kaede's voice crackled loudly over the intercom. 'All first year students and their guides are to report to the dojo."

Kurama, by far the most obedient of any of the guys, managed to find the willpower to raise his head an inch before he gave in and dropped back to the floor. Several minutes passed in exhausted silence before…

"Immediately!" Genkai roared out of nowhere.

The guys sighed wearily; then forced themselves to get up. Kaede was certainly no pushover, but compared to Genkai, she was a mouse. Genkai was a freakin' tyrant. They trudged down the stairs and into the dojo. Everybody else was already there. Unfortunately, they'd forgotten one thing…

Kouga, never one to demonstrate tact, blurted out, "What the hell are you guys wearing?"

All the guys looked down and blanched. Then they all started mumbling an explanation at once. What the average listener heard was an odd jumble of words.

"…punishment…girls…hell…slavery…damn skirt!"

"That clarified so much. We seem to have missed a significant event or two Kouga." Ayame said wryly.

"Apparently. Dog breath's in a skirt!"

"If you think that's shocking just wait until you hear what happened earlier. You see Miroku.."

Kagome was abruptly cut off when Inuyasha clamped his hand over her mouth.

"No one will ever speak of that event again. I have enough mental scarring without being forced to relive everything over and over."

"Ahem, now that everyone is present, perhaps we may begin…" Kaede started off with a gentle jab.

"Certainly, now that the dumb asses have seen fit to show up," Genkai of course was not so gentle.

"We've gathered everyone here today, because we haven't been entirely truthful with you."

"Excuse me?"

"You see, this school, while entirely legitimate, does not exist solely for the purpose of education. This school, along with another, also functions as a guardian institution for ancient relics. One in particular is prized and fought over. Like a trophy of sorts. The Shikon no Tama. Has anyone heard of it?"

"I live on a shrine. My grandfather was obsessed with ancient relics. How could I not know about it? Supposedly it all started way back in the Sengoku Jidai era, when 'demons' ran rampant and a great priestess named Midoriko protected the humans from them. They were locked in an epic battle when Midoriko made a last ditch effort to win, and trapped her soul along with the demons' in a jewel. The Shikon no Tama. It was said that the jewel would grant them a wish. Unfortunately the legends say that anyone that possessed the jewel came to a tragic end because Midoriko and the demons were still locked in battle inside the jewel, and any wish that was less than pure tipped the balance toward the demons, which is why a priestess was always chosen to guard the jewel and keep it safe and pure. Strangely enough the legends of the jewel stopped around 300 years ago, around the time that 'demons' stopped being mentioned as frequently, and there's been no mention of the jewel since so it was determined that it was just a myth. Are you telling us that you have it?"

"Actually right now the jewel is in possession of the Toguro School, our main competitors. They won the tournament last year. Before I explain the tournament further, there's something else you need to know. As Kagome said earlier, and that was impressive by the way, not many people pick up on that bit of information, demons vanished around the same time as the jewel. The reason for this is that the demons had raged out of control and were exterminating the human race. So a secret society comprised of people with holy powers created a sort of alternate dimension or world for the demons to inhabit. They anchored it to the jewel, which powers the barrier keeping the demons from entering our world."

There were several blank stares and a rather skeptical "Riiight." from Kagome, followed by a long awkward silence.

"All right guys, I think it's time to drop the glamour."

All of a sudden appearances all around the room changed drastically. We're talking people sprouting whole new body parts here. There were several people who now had tails and furry little animal ears. Kagome of course reacted exactly the opposite of how everyone else did, squealing 'Kawaii' and running around petting any furry surface she could get her hands on. She had even scooped up Shippo and was in the process of squeezing him to death, while performing the glomp of doom on Kurama. Of course after a few minutes she was given pause by the fact that she could scoop Shippo up.

"Why is Shippo so…tiny?"

"It's a fox demon thing."

"Fox…DEMON!"

"Yes, that is part of what they neglected to tell you. Not all demons had been rampaging around killing off humans. Those who weren't petitioned to stay and the society determined that as long as they masked their appearances and didn't harm any humans without just provocation they would be allowed to stay in the human realm. You've been living next to, going to school with, and running across demons your entire life. You just didn't know it. Now you've been chosen to be a part of this school, and help maintain the balance between the worlds. It's really an honor."

"And why exactly were we chosen for this honor?"

"It wasn't so much that you were chosen as you met the qualifications. You were the ones who passed the entrance exams."

"Because drawing a lot and playing video games tells you so much about our abilities."

"Actually they do. The lots were all blank in the beginning. However they are made of a specially treated paper that will turn red when in the presence of a certain amount of energy. If you had this amount of energy your paper turned red, and you were powerful enough to go on to the next tests. And I told you the video games were measuring your abilities further. You had to score highly in one and moderately in the other two in order to get in."

Kaede broke in, "Each of you is different from the average human. Your abilities are inherited and the society has been keeping an eye on your families for generations. Sango for instance comes from a long line of taijayas. Miroku is descended from monks, however inapt that profession may be for him personally. Kuwabara's family has had its spirit sense for generations. Sango, Kuwabara, Yusuke, and even Boton have something called spirit energy. People with high spirit energy tend to have slightly shaper senses and intuition, and if they are powerful enough they use it to strengthen their attacks or as a weapon in itself. Kuwabara forms his into a sword, Yusuke shoots his like a gun, we haven't determined Sango's yet.

Kagome, Miroku, and Kikyo have holy powers. Power that were made for use against the supernatural and are particularly effective against things like spirits and demons.

This brings us to the third form of energy. Youki. The demon energy, which manifests in several ways among demons depending on type, but generally results in increased speed and life span and strength. You'll learn more about Youkai in class when you see the other students in the school. There is one thing though. While they are at the school, most demons choose not to wear their concealing spells."

"Hmm, so the others that you haven't mentioned are all demons in some way?"

"Yes."

"Well, I don't know about anyone else, but I have some questions. Question number one, why are you still in high school, if you guys have increased life spans you've got to be way older than us."

"Ah, you see that is a little leftover survival trait from the rougher eras. You wouldn't expect a child that was two for a decade to have a good chance of survival would you? So we age like a human until we're 18."

"So would someone explain again why Shippo's so small?"

"Like I said earlier it's a fox demon thing. We don't come into our full powers until we're 16 or so, until then we only have illusion and some mischief tricks to defend ourselves. So we remain small to make it easier for us to hide, and so we seem less of a threat to other demons."

"Now, finally, why didn't Hiei change at all?"

"That would be because Hiei didn't change forms."

"Forms? I though it was a masking spell"

"It is, but some demons have a human appearance and then they have what is known as their demon form. Sesshoumaru over there turns into a giant dog.

"Well, what's Hiei's other form?"

"None of your business, onna."

"But I want to see."

"No."

"Why?"

"Because my form is not as pleasant as the others." He replied stonily.

"Are you scaly and orange with purple warts?"

"No!"

"Then why don't you just show me?"

He scowled and glanced over at Kaede, who was nodding at him. "Hn."

After a second my eyes widened. He was fuzzy and green and covered in eyes. It was cool! I stepped closer to him and moved my hands up and down in front of his stomach. My mouth formed a silent ooo as the eyes followed my hand up and down. I stepped even closer and looked at the big eye in the middle of his head. It focused on me for a second; then Hiei winced and rubbed his temple.

I vaguely heard Kaede scolding Hiei about trying to 'read' a miko. I wasn't really paying attention. I was fascinated by all the eyes. I gently ran my finger down the fur between several of the eyes, which would drift closed as my finger passed them. I giggled, and Hiei said gruffly, "Don't touch me, miko."

I pulled my hand back, a little hurt, but by god I was going to stick with my plan.

Kaede called for attention. "All right, now in preparation for the tournament, all new students must be in training at least once a week with one of the more experienced students. We leave it to you to decide who partners whom. In a few months your partners will report to Genkai and me whether or not you are up to snuff for the tournament. We'll just leave you to it. There will be a quick informational meeting between you and partner tonight, so that they might assess your skill levels and you can pick a time to train.

Kurama and Shippo were working together. And Boton and Kanna paired off: something about souls. Inuyasha and Kuwabara decided to practice their swordplay together. Kikyo approached Miroku about training his holy powers. Ayame and Kouga paired off, big surprise there. Seven of us were left; I approached Yukina, but she put me off, something about never fighting and her only being at the school for her healing abilities.

Sango saw me coming back and quickly ran over to claim Yusuke as her trainer. In a choice between Sesshoumaru, Hiei, and Yusuke, she'd pick Yusuke any day. Kagura claimed Sess quickly afterwards. I never stood a chance, and now I was stuck with Hiei as my partner. It could be good for 'the plan' it could be bad. I sighed, banged my head against the wall, and said, "I hate my life."

"This wasn't at the top of my list either miko."

"I'm not ningen anymore?"

"You're still a ningen, just different from most. Now, what can you do?"

"I'm an archer."

That's no good in the tournament. You need a weapon you can use in the arena. How are your kendo skills?"

"Nonexistant,"

"Marital Arts?"

"Nope."

"So what _can_ you do?"

"I'm an archer?"

All he did was sigh. "All right. We'll start at the beginning."

Then he charged at me! Two minutes of instruction and he _charged_ at me! She threw her arms up in front of her face, and a loud THUD echoed throughout the room.

"That BURNED!"

She opened an eye, still braced for impact. There was a blue wall in front of her. Hiei was on the other side, rubbing his head.

"Take it down," he said gruffly.

"Umm. I don't even know how I put it up."

He sighed again. "I'll go get Kikyo."

"Righto." I plopped down and started meditating. A few minutes later I opened my eyes. This particular action was prompted by Kikyo's, "This is interesting."

"What is?"

"Well, you shouldn't be able to put this shield up. You're not trained, and these silvery streaks…well, I've never seen anything like it. I'll have to ask Kaede about it."

"Maybe the whole thing was instinctual? I was in danger at the time, and I have been mediating a lot.

"It's possible, shielding is a pretty basic skill. I'll still need to talk to Kaede…but anyway, back to the matter at hand. Find your center. Got it?" When I nodded she continued, "Good. Now look for the thread of power that leads out to the shield. Then snip it off."

After I had done as she asked and the shield dissipated she said, "All right, this was the simplest way to get rid of the shield now, simply because you aren't trained. However, in combat or emergency situations it's best to draw the energy back inside so it can be used again."

"All righty."

"It was an excellent shield for a beginner, and that is where we will begin tomorrow afternoon when you will have your first private session with me. What time would be convenient?"

"I'm done with classes at 5:00, so I guess anytime after 6:00?"

"Six it is. I'll see you there," Kikyo glanced at Hiei. I'll be handling the training of her miko powers. You aren't exactly suitable for it, what with the possibility of being purified and all. Why don't you start her on a weapon she can use in the arena? Staff, maybe, or stars?"

"Hmph. She already has archery. She'll do staff."

"Right here guys. Feel free to discuss things with me at anytime."

"Anyway, I gotta go," Kikyo said, "It about time to start getting ready for dinner tonight"

"Oh cripes, I need to start soon too," Kagome gave Hiei the big puppy dog eyes of doom.

"Just go already."

"Thanks Hiei!" she exclaimed and impusively gave him a quick hug before taking off.

Hiei stared after her in shock for a few moments before smiling.

Next Chapter: Dinner, and Sango's past revealed

* * *

Ending Notes: And that, Fornax, is why the guys did what they were told. Who wants a horde of enraged teenage girls with super powers after them? Hell, a horde of enraged teenage girls sans superpowers is still pretty damn scary.

Sadly I also got my very first flame ever during my hiatus, and normally I wouldn't care because yeah, I have all those other pretty reviews that say positive things. No, it wasn't the fact that someone didn't like my story, it was the fact that the reason they gave was that it was because everyone was OOC. I admit this is very true. However, way back in the summary, and in the first chapter I posted one very telling thing. AU. This story is AU, which by its very nature means that it's highly likely that the characters will be different. They might have different pasts, different circumstances, different ages, and hence, different personalities. As it has been revealed, and it should have been perfectly obvious before, the demons are no longer uber old. They are teenagers just like Kagome and Sango and Yusuke. They have had different pasts then the characters in the anime. The different past thing also applies to Sango and Kagome. And okay, so part of the OOC-ness is just me having fun, but most of it is perfectly acceptable in my eyes. Maybe your eyes too? I don't know. And to tell the truth, all fanfiction is OOC because none of us are the original creators of the characters. We can make an approximation of how we think they might act in a certain situation, but there's no way to know for sure. I would also like to point out that adding 'good try though' to the end of a review that basically says 'you suck and your story was a complete waste of my time' does not rescue the review from flame-dom. Just thought I'd put that out there. And thus ends my rant.


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